This November's Proposition G closes Austin's democracy loophole. It also will save taxpayers money. The theoretical arguments against Proposition G are refuted by the past 20 years of Austin election history.
I served on the 2024 Charter Review Commission (CRC) that authored the recommendation to City Council that became Proposition …
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The most consequential feature of this November's Proposition I is not its efficiency "audit" report. Instead, it's the new legal right it creates allowing anyone to sue City Council - and potentially hold its budget process hostage - if one doesn't like the conclusions or methodology of the audit. That new litigation …
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Yesterday marked "CEA Day" at the Austin City Council Audit and Finance Committee. Following the Mayor’s proposal for a Comprehensive Efficiency Assessment (CEA), the committee began digging into the operational realities of auditing every city department.
While the spirit of the initiative remains promising, the discussion highlighted several issues …
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Mayor Kirk Watson recently proposed a new Comprehensive Efficiency Assessment (CEA) for the City of Austin. On its face, the proposal has merit. The "comprehensive" designation stems from its focus on department-by-department auditing, offering a chance at genuine insights that yield operational improvements. This is a significantly better approach than …
[MORE]This November's police staffing measure will cost more than official estimates.
The City's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) released a series of much-cited cost scenarios for Save Austin Now's police staffing ballot measure. However, a critical look at the core assumptions behind those scenarios reveals that the likely costs for Proposition …
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