Organizations supporting and opposed to Austin's tax rate increase ballot measure, Proposition Q, have tens of thousands of dollars on hand a month before the Nov. 5 election.
The setup
Austin City Council members in August passed a $6.3 billion city budget for the new fiscal year, supported by a property tax rate roughly 20% higher than this year's. The median homeowner would face about $300 in added taxes and a more than $100 increase from utility charges and other city fees, according to city projections.
The approved FY 2025-26 rate of $0.574017 per $100 in property value is 5 cents above the city's voter approval rate, the limit at which local governments must ask voters to approve greater tax increases. That process is required under a state-imposed cap on cities' ability to raise more than 3.5% new tax revenue year-to-year without seeking voter approval.
Austin's tax rate election, or TRE, would bring in almost $110 million in extra revenue for homelessness response, public health and safety, public space upkeep, employee pay increases and other purposes. If Proposition Q passes, Austin's budget and tax rate will stand as approved. If the measure is rejected, council members will reconvene to cut the budget down to a level supported by a lowered tax rate of $0.524017 per $100 valuation.
The approach
Several political action committees, or PACs, are now involved in campaigns around Proposition Q. Each reported tens of thousands of dollars in political donations as activity ramps up ahead of Election Day based on campaign finance reports filed in late summer and early fall.
Love Austin, supporting the proposition and with former council member Leslie Pool serving as treasurer, formed during summer budget deliberations and had raised more than $100,000 in August and September. Austinites for Equity, whose treasurer is a member of the public employee union AFSCME Local 1624, drew $30,000 in late September.
On the other side, Restore Leadership ATX, whose treasurer is the CEO of consulting firm vcfo, raised almost $50,000 to oppose Proposition Q as of September. And Save Austin Now, which has supported recent political efforts including the successful campaign to restore Austin's public camping ban, raised more than $63,000 since July.
City Council members, local nonprofits, labor groups and businesses tied to housing development have been the largest donors in favor of Proposition Q.
Through his PAC, Mayor Kirk Watson sent $20,000 to Love Austin last month. Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes' campaign contributed $5,000, and council member Chito Vela added $1,000. No other city elected officials contributed as of late September, although Austin ISD board President Lynn Boswell added a $526.63 donation. Several other individual donations totaling just over $1,300 were also reported.
Many of the top Love Austin contributions came from organizations involved in Austin's homelessness response and affordable housing projects. The Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, which manages the regional homeless response network and contracts with the city for some of that work, and AFSCME's national office in Washington, D.C., each contributed $25,000.
Other major donors so far included homelessness nonprofits The Other Ones Foundation and Sunrise Homelessness Navigation Center, which respectively contributed $10,000 and $5,000, developer SGI Ventures at $5,000, housing nonprofit Family Eldercare at $2,000, and Capital A Housing and Austin Housing Coalition with $1,000 donations each.
The Austin/Travis County EMS Employee PAC and nonprofit Foundation Communities, which is involved in several city affordable and supportive housing developments, also each pledged future donations of $25,000 in September.
The Care Not Cuts Coalition, made up of several local nonprofits, labor groups and advocacy organizations including some of those donors, said fundraising efforts so far reflect local support for the TRE and ballot proposition.
"Our coalition isn’t funded by millionaires, tech executives or real estate moguls. It’s powered by union dues from working families, and local organizations that hold our city accountable. Our members are the people who keep Austin clean, housed, fed and healthy—and we know what’s at stake if Prop Q fails. We’re investing now so our city doesn’t have to cut vital services that everyday Austinites depend on," the coalition said in a statement.
Through Austinites for Equity, two other PACs also supported Proposition Q campaign efforts. The separate Equity PAC contributed $20,000 while the emergency medical services employee group donated $10,000.
Combined, the pro-TRE groups reported spending nearly $60,000 and had almost $125,000 still available as of late September.
The other side
Groups organizing against Proposition Q also drew more than $100,000 combined since the summer and had more than $65,000 available between them as of late September.
Save Austin Now drew contributions from hundreds of individuals, with reported donations ranging from $10 to $10,000. The Restore Leadership PAC's largest donor was ATX Servicing, an LLC linked to Horizon Bank, with $25,000 contributed. Other corporate donations of $1,000-$5,000 came from vcfo, a trust registered in South Central Austin, the Sandhill Family Partnership and North Austin's AMC Company. And individual donations to the PAC came from five West Austin residents who each sent $1,000-$10,000.
