Austin City Council Budget Meeting  
Tuesday, July 28, 2026  
The City Council will convene at 10:00 AM on  
Tuesday, July 28, 2026 at Austin City Hall  
301 W. Second Street, Austin, TX and some  
members may be participating via videoconference  
Mayor Kirk Watson  
Mayor Pro Tem José ''Chito'' Vela, District 4  
Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison, District 1  
Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, District 2  
Council Member José Velásquez, District 3  
Council Member Ryan Alter, District 5  
Council Member Krista Laine, District 6  
Council Member Mike Siegel, District 7  
Council Member Paige Ellis, District 8  
Council Member Zohaib ''Zo'' Qadri, District 9  
Council Member Marc Duchen, District 10  
This agenda includes items that are not related to budget.  
Public comment will be allowed in-person or remotely by telephone. Speakers may only  
register to speak on an item once either in-person or remotely. For full instructions on  
participation in person or by telephone, please visit the Council Meeting Information Center:  
https://www.austintexas.gov/council/meetings  
The City Council may go into a closed session as permitted by the Texas Open Meetings Act, (Chapter 551 of the  
Texas Government Code) regarding any item on this agenda.  
10:00 AM – City Council Convenes  
Budget and Organizational Excellence  
1.  
Presentation and discussion of the City Manager’s Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Proposed Budget.  
Public Hearings  
2.  
Conduct a public hearing on proposed charter amendments including:  
A) clarifying that the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission is independent of  
Council control, allowing the ICRC to review City districts after changes to the City’s  
boundary lines, providing an effective date for the redistricting plan adopted by the ICRC,  
increasing the number of individuals in the pool of potential appointees to the ICRC,  
clarifying the method and timing of filling vacancies on the ICRC, and allowing City staff to  
communicate with the ICRC outside of a meeting;  
B) deleting language providing that the Council shall meet at least once each week;  
C) deleting language requiring the Council to determine its rules and order of business by  
ordinance;  
D) clarifying the meaning of the term “election” and to provide that the campaign  
contribution and expenditure limits shall be modified each year by January 1st instead of with  
the adoption of the budget;  
E) providing that initiative elections and petitioned charter amendment elections must be  
held on the next available November election date that occurs in an even-numbered year and  
that allows sufficient time to comply with other requirements of law;  
F) providing that a petition for an election to recall a Council Member other than the Mayor  
must contain valid signatures of at least 15% of the qualified voters of the respective Council  
district, instead of the current 10%, and clarifying that the affidavit on the recall petition must  
be signed by a petition circulator;  
G) providing that the Council appoints and removes the City Attorney;  
H) making the time frame for the automatic resignation provision for municipal court judges  
the same as that provided in the Texas Constitution for other officials;  
I) ensure that City financial practices are consistent with generally accepted accounting  
principles, reflect current practices for appropriations for department-level work programs;  
J) removing appointees and employees of the office of the City Auditor from the classified  
civil service;  
K) making non-substantive corrections of typographical errors, punctuation, and sentence  
structure, and to change or remove language that is moot or unenforceable because it has  
been superseded by state law or by a final court order;  
L) removing the restriction that officeholders must wait until after leaving office to solicit  
and accept political contributions to pay unpaid campaign expenses or to reimburse campaign  
expenditures made from personal funds and to impose contribution limits on such  
officeholders; and  
M) requiring an independent affordability and efficiency initiative before any tax rate  
increase and requiring the independent contractor to identify annual and multi-year savings;  
N) any other charter amendments proposed by the public.  
Adjourn  
The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Reasonable modifications and equal  
access to communications will be provided upon request.  
For assistance, please call 512-974-2210 or TTY users’ route through 711.  
Spanish interpretation is available at all regular City Council meetings. For other languages, a person may request an  
interpreter by contacting the Office of the City Clerk at (512) 974-2210 no later than 48 hours before the scheduled meeting.