Coalition Launches in East Austin to Back Prop Q 20% Property Tax Hike

A crowd gathered Tuesday morning under the oak trees at Parque Zaragoza Neighborhood Park in East Austin to launch a coalition supporting Proposition Q, the proposed property tax increase Austin voters will decide on in the Nov. 4 election. The tax increase would generate an estimated $110 million to fund city programs including housing, park maintenance, public health and public safety for the next year.

About 20 members of the new coalition, Care not Cuts — composed of unions, first responders, social workers and community leaders — rallied to call on voters to support Prop Q.

Brydan Summers, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1624 union, called Prop Q a “labor issue.”

“We’ve got 4,000 members that work at the city of Austin and these programs that we’ve been talking about today, particularly Austin public health who’s been dramatically affected by the federal funding cuts — those are people’s jobs,” he said. “When you hear about the broader labor movement and the dignity for workers to know that they’re going to have stability in their jobs and go in there and do it everyday and serve the public, this issue is focused on them in a lot of ways.”

Summers said the organization is volunteer based and has been knocking on doors and talking to voters about supporting Prop Q.

“We’re just really looking for the voters to help take care of us because we take care of them everyday at our jobs,” he said.

Waltermae Grady, a leader with grassroots group VOCAL TX – a movement of low-income people dedicated to ending the AIDS epidemic, the war on drugs, mass incarceration and homelessness – has experienced homelessness for the past six years in Austin. Grady spoke in support of funding homeless shelters and programs with revenue from the tax increase.

“We are all seeking a better life. Everyone deserves housing and essential services they need to survive,” Grady said. “We need to come together on this. Essential services are on the chopping block. Let’s save them now.”

Care not Cuts is the latest group to form around the controversial proposition as supporters and opponents organize in the days leading up to the election. Summers said the new coalition complements other groups like Love Austin, the political action committee formed to support Prop Q.

Opposition has also emerged, including the Save Austin PAC, which point to concerns over the 20% increase in property taxes and how the city will spend the money.

“This is the wrong time to be raising taxes. This will not improve affordability, no matter what they say, raising taxes never improves affordability,” Travis County GOP chair and Save Austin PAC co-chair Matt Mackowiak said. “Our city leaders simply have not done enough to convince taxpayers that they're going to spend tax dollars efficiently.”

Austin currently faces a $33.4 million projected budget shortfall. City officials adopted a $6.3 billion budget in August for the coming fiscal year. But the 20% increase in property taxes needed to fund the budget exceeds a 2019 state law capping local tax hikes at 3.5% in local tax raises, prompting the tax rate election.