DEFEAT PROP Q: Shock: Statesman Editorial Board Opposes Prop Q // 85 Yard Signs Left // Early Voting Begins in FOUR DAYS! // 2 Fundraising Events This Fri & Sun! // Help Us Fund E. Austin Mail

Good Thursday morning --

Just a few updates today:

• STATESMAN EDITORIAL AGAINST PROP Q PROVES EVERYONE WITH A WORKING BRAIN OPPOSES PROP Q: Yes, Hell has frozen over. The Austin American-Statesman editorial board endorsed AGAINST Prop Q. Here’s the editorial.

Editorial: We wish we could support Austin’s Prop Q. Here’s why we can’t endorse it.

Austin taxpayers deserve accountability and proof of progress before being asked to shoulder another increase.

By American-Statesman Editorial Board

Oct 16, 2025

Austin’s Proposition Q, a property tax increase on the Nov. 4 ballot, promises the type of spending most civic-minded residents would embrace. More than $35 million to address homelessness. Nearly $23 million to maintain fire department staffing, expand EMS and mental health services, and invest in other public safety priorities. Plus millions more for parks maintenance, workforce development and other programs.

All worthy initiatives. All things we wish we could support.

Early voting runs from Monday, Oct. 20, to Friday, Oct. 31; Election Day is Nov. 4. For voting locations, hours of operation and current wait times, visit votetravis.gov and select “Current Election.”

Yet we cannot support Prop Q — a $110 million cash infusion to City Hall after years of rising tax bills, diminishing returns and, at times, careless use of taxpayer dollars, in small but symbolic spending on logos and lunches that undercuts the public’s willingness to open their wallets further. For the typical homeowner, a $105 property tax increase is already built into next year’s city budget; approving Prop Q would add another $198 on top of that.

That is a significant ask. This tax hike comes amid the long-running drumbeat of affordability concerns, in a city where 58% say the high cost of living is Austin’s most pressing concern, nearly half the renters are struggling to afford housing and priced-out residents continue to leave.

Since 2018, the typical homeowner’s city tax bill has risen from $1,317 to $1,969, an increase driven in part by voter-approved initiatives such as the Project Connect transit expansion and several city bonds. With the approval of Prop Q, that homeowner’s city tax bill would rise to $2,272 — a 73% increase over where it was less than a decade ago.

Those ever-rising bills bring a growing pool of city revenues that somehow never seem to be enough. The city’s general fund — which covers core services from police to parks —