“Fiddling while Austin burns is no longer acceptable. Austin has consistently passed four-year police labor contracts – and we need one again before the current contract expires at the end of March,” said Save Austin Now co-founders Matt Mackowiak and Cleo Petricek (right.)

"For a police labor contract to take effect, it must be negotiated and agreed to by both sides, then passed by both the city council and the Austin Police Association membership. Since the one-year contract has never been agreed to, this week’s vote on a one-year contract is a show vote that only risks public safety at the expense of budget and pay certainty for Austin police leadership and the rank and file.

"The last council squandered more than a year by not making more progress and the city childishly pulled out of negotiations late last year, wasting valuable time,” said Mackowiak and Petricek.

"While we know Council Members Mackenzie Kelly and Ryan Alter, and Mayor Kirk Watson understand the severity of the staffing crisis – and the need for retention and recruitment – but it is not clear that the rest of the council does.

"We are already more than 350 police officers down from when Steve Adler and the city council defunded the police. If we fall out of contract, we will likely lose 100-150 more almost immediately. As bad as public safety is now, it will get far worse without a four-year contract,” Mackowiak and Petricek said.