Austin voters are now poised to decide whether the city should be required to undergo regular outside audits before asking residents to approve higher taxes.

The local political action committee pushing to enshrine recurring audits of Austin’s spending in the City Charter announced Monday that city officials had validated its petition, clearing the way for the proposed charter amendment to appear on the November ballot.

City Clerk Erika Brady sent a letter to Save Austin Now certifying that the PAC’s petition had met Austin’s 20,000-signature requirement for an initiative petition. Brady estimated that the petition included 20,051 valid signatures out of the 21,131 names submitted after her office checked a random sample of 5,283 lines.

The proposed charter amendment would require Austin to undergo an independent spending audit every five years to identify potential cost savings. It also would bar the city from calling a tax rate election — such as last year’s Proposition Q — unless an audit had been completed within the previous 12 months.

Save Austin Now, which led the campaign against last November’s failed ballot measure to increase city property taxes by more than 20%, previously used a similar strategy in 2021 to force a citywide vote that reinstated a public camping ban repealed by the City Council.

The City Council adopted its own citywide audit ordinance in February after Proposition Q failed, but Save Austin Now has argued that the ordinance does not go far enough because council members can amend or repeal ordinances at any time. City Charter provisions can be changed only through an election.

“The more than 20,000 Austin residents who signed our petition only want transparency, accountability and efficient spending for the high taxes that we pay,” Save Austin Now co-chair Matt Mackowiak said in a statement. “We appreciate the work of the City Clerk’s office in certifying our petitions in 20 days. The campaign phase begins now. If Austinites want to see their tax dollars spent wisely and efficiently, then we must pass this outside audit charter amendment.”

Now that the clerk has certified the petition, the City Council must either adopt the proposed charter amendment itself or place it on the November ballot for Austin voters to decide. 

The election must be called no later than Aug. 17, according to city spokesperson Jenny LaCoste-Caputo.