Austinites will have the opportunity to impose new fiscal transparency requirements on their municipal government this November.
According to a Substack post from activist group Save Austin Now, the city clerk informed the group that its petition calling for a ballot initiative to mandate an independent audit of Austin’s municipal government was officially certified on Monday.
If passed, the referendum would amend the city charter to require independent audits of municipal finances every five years.
Additionally, if the City Council wants to pursue a future tax rate election, the proposed charter amendment would require the municipal government to complete such an audit before calling the election.
The City of Austin currently conducts various internal audits. The proposed charter amendment would supplement this process with regular external reviews.
The referendum follows the landslide defeat of Proposition Q, a ballot measure that could have enshrined hundreds of millions of dollars in municipal spending, in November 2025.
Proposition Q’s failure was the culmination of a series of record-setting municipal budgets. The City Council approved its most recent record-setting $6.3 billion budget in August 2025.
This represented a nearly seven percent increase from 2024’s previous record of $5.9 billion, and a nearly 15 percent increase from 2023’s record of $5.5 billion. For perspective, Austin’s budget was $4.5 billion in 2021 and $3.3 billion in 2013.
Austin’s municipal spending has long been a subject of criticism. This criticism has grown following an explosion of spending for vagrancy services in recent years.
A recent Texas Scorecard investigation also uncovered millions of dollars in public subsidies for groups that promote dangerous sexual activity.
A similar effort to require a municipal audit fell short in 2018. At the time, Austin’s municipal budget was $4.1 billion.
Save Austin Now previously spearheaded a 2021 effort to restore a ban on camping in public places by vagrants. The council had repealed this prohibition in 2019, which begat a rash of consequences in terms of fire hazards, health, and public safety.
The audit referendum will appear at the bottom of the ballot, after federal, state, and local offices.
Legislation that would have abolished the Austin City Council received a committee hearing from state lawmakers in 2025 and is expected to return in 2027.
