AUSTIN – Yesterday, the Austin City Council voted 8-3 to send a $925 million bond proposal to voters in November. If approved, the proposed bond would raise the average Austin homeowner’s property tax bill by more than $61 annually.
“Austin is in the throes of a government-induced affordability crisis and city council seems determined to make things worse,” said James Quintero, who leads the Think Local Liberty project at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “Trying to solve Austin’s affordability problem by going further into debt is the absolute wrong approach. That’s especially true given that the city’s debt already totals $9.8 billion and adding another $925 million in new debt will only push taxes higher for most Austin homeowners and businesses.”
Quintero continued, “Instead of trying to spend its way out of the current crisis, city officials should be looking for ways to help homeowners by cutting taxes, reducing regulations, and employing different tools and techniques—like the efficiency audit project—to figure out how to do more with less.”
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