Months after the city of Austin initiated an auditing program that would regularly assess the city’s spending, the Save Austin Now Political Action Committee wants voters to approve a separate plan to review finances.

Austin City Clerk Erika Brady confirmed this week that a citizen-initiated petition to add a new section to the city charter requiring a recurring external audit of all city funds, departments and other assets can be placed on the ballot in November.

Petitions like this must be signed by at least 20,000 registered Austin voters to be placed on the ballot. Earlier this month, the Save Austin Now PAC submitted more than 21,000 signatures.

Save Austin Now co-chair Matt Mackowiak said 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,” he said.

The ballot petition garnered a lot of attention as the city of Austin works to rebuild trust and ensure fiscal responsibility after the failure of Proposition Q, the proposed tax hike on the ballot in November 2025 that would have generated more than $100 million in property tax revenue.

Mackowiak said voters made it clear last November that they were unhappy with the city’s spending habits and an audit would be a way to hold the Austin City Council accountable.

“They’re never going to be able to jam taxpayers in the same way. They’re going to have to complete an audit at least a year before calling for a tax rate election,” he said. “The days of looking at Austin taxpayers as a limitless piggybank are over.”

Competing audits

Watson announced in December the city would implement an independent, comprehensive audit of city services. The City Council then unanimously approved an ordinance to do that in February.

Watson believes that’s the best way to do an audit, citing quicker results and the ability to more easily adapt the rules, if needed.

The city is already in the process of selecting an independent reviewer. The audit could begin within the next year, and it would repeat at least every three years.

“An ordinance is a tool that evolves best with government and is not meant to just be a framework like a charter is, and you can build protections into it as well,” Watson said.

For example, to change or repeal the ordinance would require a supermajority of council support, which is at least nine votes.

But Mackowiak said the city’s ordinance doesn’t do enough.

“An ordinance can be undone or changed at any time [with the proper amount of votes],” Mackowiak said. “So it’s not a permanent reform, or even a semi-permanent reform. So it’s possible it could help us only once … A charter amendment can only be amended by another charter amendment.”

He also said the Save Austin Now petition has stronger parameters. It requires an outside contractor to perform the audit, including performance reviews of vendors and contracts, and a look at Austin Energy and Austin Water spending. It would be performed at least every five years.

“The goal here is to eliminate waste, fraud and duplication,” Mackowiak said. “And it should be to lead to a budget that more efficiently delivers core services — the things that taxpayers rely on.”

But Watson said the petition was political and an attack on local government.

“The ordinance we have in place — which calls for the same independence that the SAN petition does and in the same way — achieves the goals of the petition without the flaws,” Watson said. “And if there are flaws, we can fix them.”

Performing an audit is expected to be an expensive undertaking — an exact price tag is not yet known. The city plans to use money set aside in the City Auditor’s budget to pay for its audit. The PAC’s plan calls for the project to be paid back with the savings found by that contractor, and must exceed their own fee.

Rebuilding trust

Both sides agree an audit of the city’s spending needs to happen, especially amid pending budget cuts this summer.

And if the city wants to win the trust of residents back, it’s important to know where every dollar is going, said Mark Littlefield, a local political consultant.

“It’s kind of like in marriage therapy where you are trying to get back into the good graces of your spouse or partner, and the therapist says the only thing you can do is through your actions over time,” Littlefield said. “I think that is what Mayor Watson and the council is trying to do here.”

The audit ballot referendum will join several other city charter initiatives and a handful of City Council races this November. The council will officially put the petition on the ballot later this summer.