Austin city manager releases revised budget after voters reject Prop Q

The video attached to this story aired on Nov. 5, 2025.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin City Council received a new version of the city's fiscal year 2026 budget from the city manager's office Friday, days after voters rejected their request to raise property taxes to fund the budget they approved in August.

In a post on the council's message board Thursday, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said that he's spoken with City Manager T.C. Broadnax and his staff about the budget.

"Voters told us that city government can’t be all things to all people. We can’t pick up all the expenses, grants, and needs that other levels of government don’t cover, even if they’re for things we think are important," he wrote. "Voters want us to avoid adding to Austin’s unaffordability. Well, as I’ve said this week--message received."

His post also said that the city has retained IT consulting firm Gartner Consulting to "evaluate the city’s structure for delivering these services with the objective of finding ways to increase the value of technology across the government." Watson further said that reforming council spending is important.

"If we want to assure trust, it is critically important for us to be the model for best practices and a place that sets the highest standards. I intend to bring ideas forward to the full Council for new policy at the November 20th meeting," he wrote.

The post also said the budget would be released Friday. KXAN received a copy Sunday.

What's happened with Austin's budget so far?

Broadnax released his office's initial budget for FY 2026 in July. It set the city's general fund at $1.5 billion. The remaining $4.5 billion in the budget was related to the city's enterprise funds, which are not paid for by tax revenue.

The initial budget used a 3.5% tax rate, which wouldn't have required asking voters to approve a rate increase.

Some city council members said they thought the initial budget cut too much from city services. Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes called it "a Band-Aid budget, a budget that has Band-Aid solutions." The council's concerns led them to consider proposals for a tax rate election.

In August, the council voted to approve the budget. This also led to Proposition Q, which asked voters to approve a $0.05 property tax rate increase.

On Tuesday, voters rejected the tax rate increase.

What's in the revised budget?

The newly released budget is 16 pages long. The previously approved budget was over 1,300 pages long.

In the prior budget, council intended to put the extra revenue from Prop Q towards the city's Homeless Strategy Office, emergency medical services, parks, sidewalks, and overtime for Austin Fire.

KXAN plans to provide an in-depth look at the revised budget as it proceeds through council. But for now, you can view the new budget here.

When will the budget process finish?

With the revised budget in council's hands, they will likely follow a timeline laid out by Watson on Thursday:

• Nov. 13: Budget work session, where Broadnax will present the budget
• Nov. 18: Budget work session
• Nov. 20: Potential adoption of the new budget

If necessary, the council will hold special called sessions on Nov. 21 and 24.