A former 2024 candidate for Austin mayor has filed suit against City Council over the November ballot language proposed to increase the city’s property tax rate. Last week, Council approved a $6.3 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts on October 1. That budget includes a tax rate five cents higher than the current tax rate, triggering the requirement for a tax rate election in November. Under state law, any increase higher than 3.5 percent above the current tax rate triggers an election.
Jeffery Bowen, who made a last-minute decision to run for mayor after Council approved the city’s $5.9 billion budget for the current year, filed an emergency petition for a writ of mandamus on Monday at Texas Third Court of Appeals.
Attorney Bill Aleshire, who represents Bowen, wrote in the lawsuit that the ballot language approved by Council, violates state law because it misleads voters. If voters approve the tax increase, the change will be permanent, a fact that Bowen says the ballot language does not reveal.
Mayor Kirk Watson told the Austin Monitor he is confident the ballot language “is appropriate and meets all legal requirements.”
“We also have confidence in the court system and will respond in that venue,” he said in a statement.
In a press release about the lawsuit, Aleshire, a former Travis County Judge and frequent critic of Council, wrote, “Yet again, the Austin City Council is trying to trick voters into approving a huge tax increase with slick, unlawfully misleading language.”
The lawsuit seeks a ruling on an expedited basis because Council will have little time to meet and change the language before the deadline for mailing ballots if the court orders it. In order to meet that deadline, the ballots must be printed by mid- to late- September, according to the lawsuit.
If voters approve the measure, the city said it will collect an additional $110 million to fund homelessness services, parks and public safety needs. The money would also help close a $33 million shortfall the city faces. However, Bowen notes that there is no guarantee that future City Councils will spend the money on items the current Council has designated. Before approval of the ballot language, Bowen wrote a letter to City Council outlining changes they should adopt in order to make the language acceptable to him. One change they did adopt was to put the words “this is a tax increase” at the top of the proposition as opposed to within the proposition, to comply with a new state law. The proposition is expected to be titled City of Austin Proposition Q, which indicates it will not be near the top of the ballot.
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