Austin audit headed to ballot; fight to remove tricky language just beginning

Misleading language may potentially doom a now-approved petition to place an audit of the City of Austin on the November ballot.

The coalition supporting the audit ballot item, Citizens for an Accountable Austin, is taking emergency legal action to clarify the language (see legal petition via the Texas Monitor at https://texasmonitor.org/attorney-citys-ballot-language-on-independent-austin-audit-political-prejudiced).

According to Matt Mackowiak, county Republican chairman who stayed up to the wee hours to testify, the victory was nothing short of heroic, but the battle continues in making certain that voters are aware of what, exactly, they will be voting on.

I spent several hours at tonight’s City Council meeting waiting to testify in favor of the audit and against the intentionally misleading ballot language proposed by the Mayor and the City Manager. At 11:45 p.m., I was able to testify. Heroic Council Member Ellen Troxclair offered two separate amendments, one to simplify the ballot language and another to force a vote on the efficiency audit, both failed.  

The audit is on the ballot, but as of now it will have ridiculous language intended to confused voters and help defeat it. There will be an emergency lawsuit against the ballot language in the next three business days.

Mackowiak thanked Michael Searle for leading the coalition supporting the audit and Ed English for his efforts.

According to Roger Falk of the Travis County Taxpayers Union, this is also an issue of open and transparent government, regardless of which party you belong to. More than 30,000 Austinites supported the petition, representing a wide cross-section of city taxpayers. In an email update he wrote:

With the apparent support of the Mayor and all but two council members, this oversight was rejected and the ballot language subverted to mislead voters and ultimately avoid accountability:   

"In addition to having an internal City Auditor and independent external auditor, shall the City Code be amended to require an efficiency study of the City's operational and fiscal performance by a third-party consultant', at an estimated cost of $4 million, the funding of which will require a reduction in services or an increase in the tax rate?"   

The part in RED gives the false impression ample auditing exists and no change is needed.  The reality is, the present system isn't working and isn't accountable to citizens. 

The part in GREEN threatens voters with penalties if they pass the audit requirement. 

Outside, independent, efficiency audits such as the one proposed, have resulted in a savings to taxpayers of 4 - 10% of the budget!  Austin's budget exceeds $4 billion; that equates to $160 - $400 million dollars per year!  This language is despicable and on its own merit, warrants vigorous passage of this transparency measure.

Adam Cahn also had some choice words for the funny business, which may be found here.