LANGUAGE
“Approving the ad valorem tax rate of $0.574017 per $100 valuation in the City of Austin for the current year, a rate that is $0.05 higher per $100 valuation than the voter approval tax rate of the City of Austin, for the purpose of funding or expanding programs intended to increase housing affordability and reduce homelessness; improve parks and recreation facilities and services; enhance public health services and public safety; ensure financial stability; and provide for other general fund maintenance and operation expenditures included in the fiscal year 2025-2026 budget as approved or amended by City Council. Last year, the ad valorem tax rate in the City of Austin was $0.4776 per $100 valuation.”
WHAT THIS MEANS
- This is a tax rate election.
- This would increase the city property tax rate from $0.4776 per $100 valuation to $0.574017 per $100 valuation.
- This increase is $.05 cents per $100 valuation higher than the state approved rate.
- Because it is higher than the state approved rate, an election is required to adopt the slightly higher rate.
- The property taxes would be used for homelessness solutions, affordability, parks, fire, EMS, public health, and more.
WHY THIS IS HAPPENING
- In 2019, The State of Texas passed a law that cities could not raise the property tax more than 3.5% without an election.
- Previously, this limit was 8%.
- The State chose the 3.5% rate knowing it would be unsustainable for cities unless they cut essential services.
- The proposed tax increase is a 4.2% increase and well within the previous boundary.
WHERE THE MONEY GOES
- This would generate ~$110M for the city
- $35.5M for homelessness solutions such as affordable housing, shelters, outreach, anti-displacement, and more
- $22.6M for the crisis outreach team, Sobering Center, EMS, Fire, domestic violence shelters, Police Oversight Committee, and more
- $7.7M for workforce development, public health, harm reduction, food insecurity, family support, and more
- $10M for parks, climate change, and more
- $1.3M for city employee benefits including bad weather pay for frontline workers
- And more! The details are laid out at: bit.ly/atxpropq
IF PROP Q FAILS...
- The city is facing hundreds of millions of dollars in state & federal budget cuts
- Many of the programs listed on the previous slide wouldn’t happen at all.
- The loss of these services will likely lead to loss of life in our underserved communities.
- The city estimates 22.5% of social services funding would be cut.
- Rents and property taxes would still increase.
- Drastic cuts to city funding means we would not only lose essentially services, but likely fun services like free swim at the springs too.
OTHER DETAILS
- The city aims to have tax rate elections no sooner than every four years.
- City taxes account for less than half of a homeowner’s property tax bill.
- The majority of taxes homeowners pay is to AISD. The city doesn’t have a say in that rate.
- Even with these increases, Austin’s property tax rate would still be comparable to surrounding suburbs.
MY THOUGHTS
- We can’t afford to lose the services prop Q funds.
- The state put us in this financial crisis so we’d fight with each other and to force us to cut services. They love division, and we can’t let them win.
- Budget and tax increases are necessary because of inflation and drastic state and federal cuts.
- We should all organize for corporate and hotel tax to avoid putting the whole tax burden on regular people in the future.
- I wish there was an easier way to have budget accountability without reading a 1600 page document. But the drama around council expensing lunches (~$5k) and the ugly logo (~$1M) are mere financial drops in the bucket and while we should not spend on those, they would not come close to funding the services we need.