Voters in Texas’ capital city rejected a measure requiring an outside audit of Austin’s municipal spending.
According to Travis County’s unofficial results, Proposition I lost by a margin of 56.02 percent to 43.98 percent.
Had it passed, Proposition I would have amended the city charter to require an outside audit of city spending every five years. In addition, if the city council wanted to pursue a future tax rate election, the proposed charter amendment would have required the municipal government to complete such an audit beforehand.
The city council approved its most recent record-setting $6.6 billion budget in August 2026.
This represented a nearly 5 percent increase from 2025’s record $6.3 billion, which was nearly 11 percent higher than 2024’s record $5.9 billion, and a nearly 17 percent increase from 2023’s record $5.5 billion.
A similar effort to require a municipal audit fell short in 2018, when Austin’s municipal budget was $4.1 billion.
In 2013, the budget was $3.3 billion.
Austin currently holds the highest credit rating attainable from all three major agencies, Moody’s, S&P Global, and Fitch Ratings.
Austin voters also approved over a quarter of a billion dollars in new bonds, advertised as for parks and libraries.
Left-wing candidates won outright in city council districts 8 (Southwest Austin) and 9 (Central Austin). Districts 1 (East), 3 (Southeast), and 5 (South Central) face runoffs between varying degrees of left-wing candidates.
