DEFEAT PROP Q: Austin Raised Taxes, Houston Cut Spending // 5 Voting Days Left to Vote Against Prop Q // 5.9% Turnout So Far // Matt on TPPF Podcast // Steven on CBS Town Hall // 32 Yard Signs Left

Good (early) Tuesday morning --

Just a few updates today:

• Must Read Austin American-Statesman Story on How Houston and Austin Each Dealt with Budget Deficits

“A tale of two broke cities: How Austin and Houston take radically different approaches to taxes,” Austin American-Statesman’s Chaya Tony and Abby Church -- “In August, Austin City Council member Marc Duchen found himself alone on the dais as the only “no” vote on a $6.3 billion budget.

The vote wasn’t close, but it was consequential. The budget relied on a record 20% property tax increase — the largest in Austin’s history — pending voter approval of Proposition Q this November. City leaders hailed the plan as a bold investment in housing, homelessness programs and public safety amid a projected deficit.

Duchen saw it differently.

“I think the culture is, ‘We don’t need to worry too much about money and spending,’” he said. “It’s so much easier to spend money. It’s so much easier to go out and ask people for more.”

That conviction led him to look 165 miles to the east, where another big, blue Texas city is taking a vastly different approach to its own financial crisis.

In Houston, Mayor John Whitmire has been on a no-new-taxes crusade – a move that carries its own risks.

Two cities, two systems

By many measures, Austin and Houston could not be more different.

Austin is smaller, wealthier and more homogenous; Houston is twice the size, far more diverse and working-class. It also operates under a strong-mayor system, giving Whitmire sweeping authority over the budget and city operations.

Austin, by contrast, has a council–city manager form of government, meaning City Manager T.C. Broadnax — rather than Mayor Kirk Watson — has significant control over Austin’s financial approach. While Watson can champion policy goals, it’s Broadnax who translates them into fiscal reality.

“Austin and Houston are very different cities,” Broadnax said in a statement sent in response to questions about the different fiscal approaches.

Still, one could argue the cities are mirror images: fast-growing, left-leaning metropolises grappling with affordability and infrastructure strain.

Both are led by longtime Democratic politicians who know each other well: Whitmire and Watson served for years together in the Texas Senate before retiring to govern their respective hometowns, where they’ve struggled to balance progressive ideals with financial and political realities.

Both cities are perpetually in the crosshairs of the Republican-dominated Legislature, which