City Clerk Certifies that At Least 20,000 Valid Signed Petitions Were Submitted
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN, Texas – Austin City Clerk Erika Brady today notified nonpartisan organization Save Austin Now PAC that her office certified the Outside Audit charter amendment as having at least 20,000 valid signed petitions from City of Austin residents. The city’s review found that 21,131 signatures were submitted and 20,051 were valid, a resulting validity rate of 94.89%. The charter amendment will now be placed on the November 2026 ballot.
The charter amendment will require regular, outside, performance audits of the entire City of Austin budget for the first time in city history.
The first outside audit must be completed within one year of the contract engagement (with the independent contractor selected within 120 days) and which must be conducted every five years or no less than one year before any future tax rate election. The Charter amendment explicitly requires that the Independent Contractor commit to identify annual or multi-year cost savings that exceed the cost of the initiative.
The audit will cover the entire City of Austin budget, all utilities, and all vendors and subvendors. No audit of this kind has ever been conducted in Austin.
“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,” said Save Austin Now co-chair Matt Mackowiak. “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.”
More information about Save Austin Now can be found at SaveAustinNow.com.
