Mayor Kirk Watson urged Austinites at the University on Wednesday to vote for an increased tax rate and spoke about his time as mayor.
Watson won his fourth term as Austin Mayor in November after having previously served two terms from 1997-2001. Watson also represented Austin in the state Senate from 2007-2020. Watson spoke about how his personal life has shaped his policy life, urged Austinites to vote for propositions on November’s ballot and spoke about his preference for U.S. senator.
During his talk with Evan Smith, a journalist and professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, Watson urged Austinites to vote in favor of Proposition Q during an upcoming tax rate election on Nov. 4. Although the initiative would increase the property tax rate 20% from the previous year, Watson said it would keep funding essential city programs, mainly homelessness initiatives, as state law prevents local governments from increasing budgets by more than 3.5%.
According to the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, the number of unhoused people in Austin has decreased for the first time in five years, which Watson said was a sign to vote in favor of the proposition to keep funding city programs.
“If we don’t stabilize our budget, and we don’t get the ability to grow the budget along with the way the population is growing — when needs are growing — within about five years, we will be starting to manage decay,” Watson said. “That’s going to be a problem for this city.”
In addition to city programs, Watson discussed his history of increasing affordability in the city, such as removing regulations from 1946 meant to deter racial minorities from moving into certain areas of the city.
“We’ve made it where you can do more duplexes, triplexes, waterplexes and ADUs,” Watson said. “We have made it where it’s much easier to build housing, and we’re seeing a difference.”
Although not an official endorsement, Watson said he would likely support state Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, over former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, in the Democratic primary to decide who will run for U.S. Senate in 2026. Watson said the candidate’s record-breaking donations since entering the race give him confidence in the state senator’s bid.
“(Talarico) has a tough row to hoe in the primary, and in part because Allred has already run, and he ran a good campaign,” Watson said. “(Talarico’s fundraising) changed my perspective because I worried about whether he would be able to raise the kind of money, and that is impressive by any standard.”
In his early 30s, Watson fought cancer and underwent chemotherapy. Near the end of the talk, Watson said his successful fight against cancer gave him a new perspective on life and pushed him to run for mayor in 1997. Now, it has influenced his approach and view of people who disagree with him, he said.“We don’t have enough time to be as mean as we’re being to each other right now,” Watson said. “I tend to want to avoid labeling somebody … I must admit, getting cancer and facing your mortality in your early 30s helps with that.”
