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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2025 - FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2025

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“‘Overwhelming’: Mayor tours homeless camp during city cleanup surge,” KXAN’s race Reader — “As the city of Austin continues its three-week effort to eliminate homeless encampments and get people to shelter, Mayor Kirk Watson toured one of those camps Friday morning before city crews started the work of clearing it out.

Tucked into the woods just off of Brandt Road in south Austin, people experiencing homelessness had created multi-story treehouses, A-frame living structures and collected significant amounts of debris.

The people living there had already been relocated Friday morning. Of the roughly 30 people at the site, more than a dozen had accepted shelter, according to David Gray, the director of Austin Homeless Strategies and Operations. Starting Friday, the city will begin clearing that encampment out and removing the debris left behind.

“The word that comes to my mind the quickest is overwhelming,” Watson said after he viewed that homeless encampment. “It’s overwhelming the situation that people are living in, it’s overwhelming to me how much effort people go into creating living conditions that are better, even in the woods.”

It’s part of a three-week initiative by the city of Austin to get people connected with resources and shelter before winter, when weather conditions may be deadly. As part of that, the city is also eliminating homeless encampments left behind.

Two weeks into that surge, Gray said the city has cleared more than 450 individual sites, gotten nearly 100 people into shelter and connected roughly 50 more with services.

“In one of the wealthiest cities in the country and in the world, we have people living in these sorts of conditions,” Watson said. “We really really need to up our game … This should not be Austin, Texas.”

It’s happening at the same time the state of Texas launched a targeted encampment cleanup initiative in Austin. Despite Gov. Greg Abbott saying he was leaning on the city to help the state shelter people, Gray said the city has only sheltered one person on behalf of the state so far.

“Will Austin voters pass Proposition Q on Election Day? Here's what we know,” Austin American-Statesman’s Chaya Tong — “Befitting Austin’s reputation as the most liberal city in Texas, voters here have long been willing to pay higher taxes to support schools, social services, pet projects and public transportation.

Last year, Austinites voted to increase school property taxes to pay for $171 million in employee raises and to reduce the district’s $119 million budget deficit. In 2020, amid a historic pandemic that cast the economy into a tailspin, voters approved a $7.1 billion transit system known as Project Connect. For four election cycles in a row — except in 2012, when voters rejected a $78.3 million affordable housing bond — Austinites have approved a series of bond packages to fund low-, middle- and affordable-income housing.

So when the polls opened last week in an election where Austinites are being asked to hike city property taxes by more than 20% to fund a wide range of progressive priorities, the surest bet is that voters will go for it.

“Given Austin's general inclination toward a vibrant, active city in its voting patterns, it's likely to still pass,” said Joshua Blank, research director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

But will it? Public sentiment is palpably different this time around, according to experts — even inside City Hall. Both data and anecdotal evidence suggest the election is still up for grabs.

“This will be more challenging than previous tax rate elections,” Blank acknowledged, noting the unprecedented size of the proposed hike — known as Proposition Q — as a particular challenge.

The measure would generate about $110 million to fund Austin City Council priorities, including homeless services, increased park maintenance and support for health and public safety initiatives.

Some Prop Q proponents have opted to paint the vote as a referendum on the Republican crusade against liberal cities.

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“I would urge people to understand that this election is not about taxes — it’s about whether we want Donald Trump and Greg Abbott to choose how Austin spends its money,” said Joe Cascino, who heads a political action committee formed to support Prop Q.

Signs that Proposition Q could fail

Back in May — months before the City Council decided to ask voters to open their wallets — the city’s Office of Budget and Organizational Excellence conducted a survey of 812 residents that suggested the measure could face headwinds.

Only 14% of respondents indicated support for increasing services even if it meant raising taxes, while 86% favored options that would maintain or improve services without increasing taxes or fees.

"The majority of residents prefer to keep taxes at their current levels," the survey report noted.

While some data from the survey could be a useful indicator of what’s to come, Austin-based political consultant Jim Wick said the respondents are not representative of this year’s electorate because the poll did not account for higher voter turnout in more affluent areas of West Austin.

In a statement, City Manager T.C. Broadnax noted his office conducts surveys annually "to help identify funding priorities" before crafting a balanced budget proposal for consideration by City Council. 

Even members of the Travis County Democratic Party were somewhat reluctant to endorse Prop Q.

On the evening of Sept. 25, an endorsement vote — which requires two-thirds majority support to pass — ended in a tie.

Party Chair Doug Greco cast the deciding vote in favor of the endorsement, according to meeting minutes obtained by the American-Statesman. It ultimately passed 69-34.

“I personally supported the endorsement because, as a former public school teacher and grassroots organizer, I believe that the social services, housing and school-based programs it can fund are an important investment in working families,” Greco said in a statement to the Statesman.

The close vote came even though a local Democratic Party favorite — U.S. Rep. Greg Casar — attended the meeting to speak in favor of Prop Q.

Fundraising and spending numbers could be another indicator of voter sentiment.

The last political action committee financial reports before the election were due Oct. 27. PACs opposing Prop Q raised $288,812, while those in favor raised just $67,998.

The city poll, fundraising imbalance and close endorsement vote may be the only hard data available suggesting that Prop Q could be in trouble. But there is also significant anecdotal evidence, and experts say the general economic and taxing climate could pose a challenge.

Since the May poll, Travis County decided to raise its property tax rate by 9.12% next year to address July’s devastating floods. While that increase exceeds the 3.5% cap allowed under state law without voter approval, a tax rate election wasn’t required because the county received a disaster declaration. But unlike the city’s proposed 20% hike, which would be permanent, the county’s increase will expire after one year.

Though Travis County cited this year’s floods to justify its tax increase, Blank said local governments like the county and city will likely start asking voters for the highest tax rates they can since the state’s revenue cap limits their ability to keep up with rising costs.

Austin voters also have ample reason to question whether the tax hike will lead to good outcomes.

The Austin school district recently announced plans to close 13 schools amid declining enrollment and ongoing financial woes — even though voters approved a $2.44 billion bond in 2022 designed to keep those campuses open.

Five years after approving Project Connect, Austin voters still do not have a light rail system. Since then, the project has been significantly scaled back, yet the cost remains the same.

Meanwhile, several rapid bus lines included in the plan have been delayed.

The Statesman recently uncovered evidence of questionable discretionary spending among city leaders, prompting Broadnax and Council Member Ryan Alter to reimburse taxpayers for thousands of dollars in “working lunches.” Even so, council members voted to increase their food and travel budgets, growing overall office expenditures by 4.5%.

Michael H. Granof, professor emeritus of accounting at the University of Texas, previously told the Statesman city leaders took a big risk asking voters to support a grab bag of initiatives rather than just one.

While Austinites have historically been “willing to vote for tax increases,” he said, “usually those tax increases are for specific projects.”

Why Proposition Q could still pass

Wick, the political consultant, conducted early voting data analysis using the county clerk’s voter roster matched with a database of voter history. He said this electorate compares most closely with the November 2021 election — another off-year vote featuring a controversial proposition to increase police staffing that could have cost the city between $54 million and $120 million annually. Austin voters ultimately rejected that measure.

He estimated that in the first three days of early voting this year, 68% of voters were Democratic-leaning, 25% Republican-leaning and the remainder independent. He also noted that voters on the west side of town are turning out at a higher rate than they did in 2021.

As of Thursday, 74,269 people had voted early in person, and the county had received another 1,859 ballots by mail. With 904,768 registered voters, early voting turnout stood at 8.42%.

Given the political divide — with the Travis County Democratic Party endorsing the proposition and former county GOP Chair Matt Mackowiak and his Save Austin Now PAC leading opposition — Wick said Proposition Q would likely pass if voters cast ballots along party lines.

Opponents of Prop Q would have to persuade at least 25% of Democrats not to vote for it, he said, adding that there’s been no major surge of Republican voters so far, and GOP turnout is slightly lower than in 2021.

As early voting continues, Wick said, the share of Democratic voters tends to rise.

While the May poll showed little support for tax increases, a separate survey conducted during the city’s community engagement phase for the 2026 bond found that around 70% of 2,002 residents surveyed in May and June said they would support a tax increase for the city’s next bond package. The survey also found residents’ top priorities included housing, transportation and parks.

Supporters of the proposition are calling on Austinites’ historical support for local government and urging voters to push back against Republican-dominated state and federal governments.

At a Care Not Cuts coalition press conference Monday, Greco said the public sector has been under attack for decades at the hands of Trump and Abbott.

“We are proud to live in a community that has agreed through its social compact to not leave behind as many people as possible, and we trust our locally elected officials more because they share our values and they know our communities,” he said.

Austin Council Member Chito Vela said he’s “cautiously optimistic” that voters will support Prop Q, especially considering the Austin school district’s successful tax rate election last year.

“I don’t think it’ll pass with overwhelming support, but I think it’ll pass,” he said.” AAS ($)

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