recurring performance reviews<\/a> of city departments, with at least three years between rounds. Outside consultants would conduct the reviews with help from the auditor\u2019s staff. The ordinance also calls for employee input, department responses to recommendations and public reporting.<\/p>\nIn a statement following City Council\u2019s unanimous passage of the ordinance, Watson described it as \u201ca major step in safeguarding public confidence and a commitment to effectiveness, efficiency, and innovation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s both a back to basics and modernization of how we approach city government,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
But Save Austin Now contends the ordinance does not go far enough because City Council could always vote to\u00a0repeal it. Putting the review requirement in the city charter would prevent that because charter amendments require a citywide vote.<\/p>\n
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Save Austin Now President Matt Mackowiak stamps a \u201c00001\u201d on the first page of validated signatures at SAN\u2019s headquarters downtown, Feb. 6, 2026. The page contained two signatures- of Mackowiak and his wife.<\/p>\n
Sara Diggins\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
Mackowiak framed opposition to the ordinance as fear of a thorough performance review.<\/p>\n
“The people who oppose it the loudest are the ones who are the most afraid of transparency, accountability and efficiency finally coming to City Hall for the benefit of taxpayers,” he told the Statesman last week.<\/p>\n
In its own television ad, Save Austin Now likens itself to a scrappy\u00a0underdog football team taking on a powerful rival. The three-minute spot invokes the iconic film and TV series\u00a0Friday Night Lights, with “Team Austin” mounting a second-half comeback against “Team City Hall.”<\/p>\n
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The City Clerk certified the group\u2019s petition signatures in June, requiring the council to put the measure on the November ballot.<\/p>\n
Both the charter proposal and the council ordinance are performance reviews, not financial audits. The city\u2019s annual financial statement audit checks whether revenues, spending, assets and debts are fairly reported.<\/p>\n
Braden Williams, an associate professor of accounting at the University of Texas\u2019 Red McCombs School of Business, said performance reviews assess how money is spent.<\/p>\n
“The financial statement audit is about whether the numbers in the financial statements are fairly stated, not whether the spending behind them was wise,” he said.<\/p>\n
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The city auditor\u2019s office already conducts performance reviews under government auditing guidelines issued by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, Williams said.<\/p>\n
The other charter amendments<\/p>\n
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(From left) Councilmember Natasha Harper-Madison, City Manager T.C. Broadnax and Mayor Kirk Watson listen to council deliberations ahead of a vote over the Dogs Head development at an Austin City Council meeting July 23.<\/p>\n
Justin Doud\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
Most of the remaining amendments would make relatively minor changes to the city charter, like removing language that says the City Council must meet once every week.\u00a0(Currently, City Council adopts a schedule each year that allows it to meet every other week.).\u00a0Most were recommended by a volunteer commission that reviewed the charter in 2024.<\/p>\n
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Proposition C: The amendment would clarify the independence and procedures of the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission that redraws Austin\u2019s 10 council districts every 10 years. It would allow college students to serve, change how vacancies are filled and set rules for members\u2019 communications with city staff outside public meetings. Supporters, including Council Member Ryan Alter, say the changes would bring younger people into the process and help the volunteer commission work more efficiently.<\/p>\n
Proposition D: This would remove the charter requirement that the council meet at least weekly. It now generally meets every other week.<\/p>\n
Proposition\u00a0E: This would let the council set its own meeting rules without adopting an ordinance, giving members more control over agendas and other procedures.<\/p>\n
Proposition\u00a0F: This would clarify that campaign contribution limits apply separately to general, runoff and special elections. The limits would be set each Jan. 1 to account for inflation.<\/p>\n
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Proposition G: A seemingly small but divisive change, this would require citizen-initiated measures, such as Proposition I, to go before voters at the next available November election in an even-numbered year, if deadlines allow. Save Our Springs Alliance and other opponents say that could delay votes and limit direct democracy. Supporters, including Council Member Paige Ellis, say higher-turnout presidential and midterm elections would make the process more democratic.<\/p>\n
Proposition\u00a0H: This would give the council authority to hire and remove the city attorney, who leads the Law Department and advises city staff and council members. The 2024 Charter Review Commission said Austin is an outlier: More than 70% of Texas cities let their councils appoint the city attorney, according to a 2010 Texas Municipal League survey.<\/p>\n
Proposition\u00a0J: This would correct technical errors and remove provisions superseded by state law or court rulings.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Austin City Hall, Sept. 3, 2026. Sara Diggins\/Austin American-Statesman Austin voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to make…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-470079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}