Austin City Council hopefuls will receive a lesson July 14 on how to make downtown Austin a fatter cash cow without neglecting economic development needs throughout the city.

Joe Minicozzi, president of Urban3, a North Carolina–based data analytics firm, offered a sneak peek June 19 of figures that show how tax revenue from downtown Austin benefits the city and Travis County.

"For every $1 a county resident is paying, a city resident is paying about $8 an acre," he said, referring to taxable property values.

Minicozzi proposes constructing taller multistory buildings that house a diverse set of resources. The reason for this kind of setup, he said, is that tax revenue for the county grows exponentially for each story added. Austin has instead opted for shorter structures that result in cheaper tax returns, he said.

There are some tall, narrow skyscrapers, called point towers, such as The Austonian and Spring Condominium, although city code has since changed to prevent more point towers from being built. The Austonian's tax value alone is $486.7 million per acre.

"That's more potent an acre than some towns we've studied," Minicozzi said.

Downtown Austin Alliance Chairman Larry Graham said the decision residents must make in November on urban rail will have a direct effect on downtown's value.

"If people stop investing in downtown ... because they can't get here or move within downtown, we as a community will severely limit our community's earning potential," Graham said.

Jeremy Martin, Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce senior vice president, said transit should be residents' top issue. Having different transportation services will diversify the economy enough to overcome future economic downturns, Martin said, but the transportation concerns and the inability to find workers with the right skillsets could eventually set Austin back.

Only 15 percent of the approximately 38,000 people looking for work in Central Texas have a post-secondary degree, Martin said, while about two-thirds of the open positions require those degrees. The chamber plans to combat this by partnering with Austin City Council to develop rapid skills training programs for certain areas, he said.