Ben Thompson

Latest #WatsonWire: Planting a Decision Tree. Austin is a growing, successful city. To continue and enhance that success, we need investment that, among other things, improves our quality of life, benefits our economy, and reduces maintenance costs on aging infrastructure. Such investment typically comes from a bond election. The framework for making these public investments is also important to Austin’s success. If Austin considers borrowing money, plans to collect taxes to pay debt, and promises voters it will timely complete important projects, we should use transparent, understandable, and disciplined thinking about whether we need a bond election, why we need it, and what should be in it. Working with the City’s professional finance staff, I’ve proposed a reform to our financial deliberations—a “decision tree” to guide our decision-making and assure compliance with established financial policies and practices. These policies and practices are meant to keep taxes lower, avoid delays or cancellation of promised programs, and help the Council make better decisions based on our financial forecast. Prior to my returning to the Mayor’s office in 2023, Austin seemed to have a bond election every election day. The timing and number of elections violated Austin’s financial policies and practices. In 2023, we had almost $2 billion of authorized but unissued bond debt because the City just couldn’t get the voter-approved projects done. We improved things, but it takes more than three years to deal with the hangover created by that many elections. Read more: bit.ly/DTWire