Prop Q is on the ballot in Austin right now.
While We Squabble Over Hundreds…
Texas is "Legally Stealing" Thousands
Click Here for Prop Q -vs- Recapture Calculator
On my most recent tax bill, Prop Q would have cost my family about $181.


Last year, the Texas Legislature took $1,518 from us though "Recapture."


WHY ISN'T THIS THE NUMBER WE ARE TALKING ABOUT?
AI podcast version:

If you would like to listen to an automatically-generated podcast form of this website, it is interesting to see what Google's NotebookLM came up with. It is just under 15 minutes.

I'm a person, not a PAC. I live in East Austin and I pay one property tax bill every year. It doesn't matter to my bank account where the money goes, just the big number that comes out. Right now, we Austinites are all up at one another, bickering amongst ourselves about Prop Q, which would raise money the City of Austin says it needs.

The $181 for Prop Q is an estimate of the impact on my property taxes if it passes; by statute it would be 5 cents per $100 of my City of Austin taxable property value. ($361,094 * .0005 = $180.55) https://www.austintexas.gov/page/ballot-propositions

I downloaded my 2024 property tax bill, due 1/31/25, ​https://tax-office.traviscountytx.gov/properties/taxes/account-search​ to see what the fuss was about. Here is the screenshot:

Yessiree, sure looks like I paid $3,340 to support AUSTIN ISD. It says so right there on the bill! But the bill doesn't show this mysterious "Recapture," it just hides that huge number right there in plain sight.

$7,150
Total Property Tax

What I pay annually.

$3,340
AISD Tax Collected

Amount collected by AISD

$1,518
State "Recapture"

Collected by AISD and then "Recaptured"

$181
Prop Q Impact (probable)

Local investment in parks, safety, housing (as if it had been on my 2024 taxes.)

I hear the outcry: "What is that big red number? Where did it come from? I've never seen that on my Property Tax Bill."

Yep, 52.2% of the money collected by AISD for "Maintenance and Operations" (see "Super Mathy Breakdown") was taken back through a system called "Recapture."

It is essentially "legally taken / stolen" by the Texas Legislature directly from residents of Austin ISD. https://www.austinisd.org/budget/recapture

And that money adds up. My Recapture canoodled with your Recapture and we ended up with this:


Did that hit over $900,000,000 a couple of years ago? Wow, it did, good catch!

My Property Tax bill should actually look like this:

Spouse:

"You mean they take close to half of the money I think I'm paying for our schools?"

Me:

"Yes."

How much will Prop Q cost YOU?

Caveat: I tried to get the numbers right, but they may be off a bit here and there. The gist is the same. Also, I am well aware that my taxes will further go up because the Homestead Exemption allows taxes to be raised every year, just not all at once if property values jump. If you find a substantive issue, please let me know so that I can correct it: RecaptureRecapture@gmail.com.

Super Mathy Break Down of AUSTIN ISD's taxes into component sections - this shows Recapture details but not Prop Q stuff.

I had a lot of people look this over. Fortunately, I called in a favor from the Dad of a nice kid my child met in a local park during the Pandemic, a man who worked in school finance for 15 years, and he alerted me to the fact that Austin ISD's budget line splits into two parts: "Maintenance & Operations" and "Interest & Sinking." Why do I need an expert to figure this out? Anyway, M&O is the biggest part of the budget and is all the ongoing stuff for schools. "Interest & Sinking" is basically paying off bonds. The 52.2% recapture is taken only from M&O part of the budget.

To make matters worse, the percentages for M&O vs I&S change every year, because of course they do. For the year above, it looks like my AISD tax rate is $.9505. It is really M&O of $.8275 and I&S of $.123 - an explanation and the yearly table is here: https://www.austinisd.org/budget/taxes-debt. Meaning my M&O is $351,367 * .008275 = $2,907.56, my I&S is $351,367 * .00123 = $432.18, and my Recapture is $2,907.56 * .522 = $1,517.75. Say that 20 times fast.

My Real 2024 Property Taxes
(plus the addition of Prop Q to retroactively see how it would have affected me last year)

The State of Texas "Recaptured" so much of my "AISD" money.

(note the big red slice)


Why isn't Recapture it's own line item on our Property Tax bill? Ohhh… because then we would so clearly be able to discern their purloinful endeavors. Shhh! We aren't supposed to notice!

Right now, we are fighting over that small dark blue slice while that big red slice disappears.

Playing Dirty Against Prop Q

My Spouse received this on their cell phone, unsolicited. I popped on the "MISLEADING" so people scrolling wouldn't think this crap was real.

And here was the message: "Hey, this is Lauren with Save Austin Now PAC. You're invited to join us tonight Oct. 17th for a fundraiser to defeat Prop Q, a 20% property tax from 6-8p.m. Come hear how to help. Donors get a Dairy Queen coupon from our host, the DQ owner. RSVP & donate: https://secure.anedot.com/save-austin-now-pac/no-prop-q-north"

Notice that lighter red $5,995 for "Austin" and the dark red $7,626 for "Austin with Prop Q." This is Per Individual. That is super scary! That is over $30k a year for my little family!

However, this is an incredibly misleading number, as our actual tax-supported budget per resident (the General Fund + Debt Service) is about $1,896 per Austin resident.
That number would not even make it onto this danged chart.

How to Find that Real City of Austin Budget Number

Take the 25–26 General Fund (tax-supported operations): $1.6 B., add the 25–26 General Obligation Debt Service (tax-supported): $283.5M, then divide by the City of Austin population (Census 2024 estimate): 993,588. The Tax-supported budget per Austinite (2025–26) = (1,600,000,000 + 283,490,710) ÷ 993,588 = ≈ $1,896 per resident. https://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/BOE/Budget/FY2025-2026_Approved_Budget.pdf Ballot Propositions (https://www.austintexas.gov/page/ballot-propositions) Population Growth Reported Across Cities and Towns in All U.S. Regions (https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025/vintage-2024-popest.html)

Why the difference? That light red $5,995 includes:

  • Austin Energy
  • Austin Water
  • Airport Fees
  • Hotel Taxes
  • Other User Charges

Yes, Save Austin Now is including your Utilities in that number. It is hard to be more misleading.

Note to Self: It is so difficult to prevail when the "other side" constantly lies, yet we are bound by truth. Lauren at Save Austin Now PAC is serving up prevarications with a side of free frozen dairy treats.

So how much of that $5,995 number we are all seeing in flyers and on phones is totally misleading? Most of it.





($4,099 is a derived number: $5,995 - $1,896)

And where did the $7,626 for "Austin with Prop Q" come from? That one is a bonafide fabrication. Pulled straight out of their from thin air. Because…

Figuring out how much Prop Q will cost is, um, math. MATH. M-A-T-H. MATHEMATICS.

Now, gasp, a person or organization might lie about the numbers. I did get a flyer in the mail from SaveAustinNow.com that mentions Prop Q as "the 22.1% Property Tax Increase." That implies this increase is on all Property Taxes, when in fact it is only on the slice from the City of Austin, or about 1/4 of the full Property Tax bill.

So a nefarious, stupid, or nefariously stupid organization might apply that increase to the whole bill, which would look huge! Thousands of Dollars! Like we are totally out of control compared to other cities! But none of that is real!

Math Below:

Here is what gets me about their math - it is just so sloppy. Where did that 22.1% Property Tax increase number even come from? It is probably a mistype of the real number, which is 20.2%. (The City is asking voters to approve a tax rate of $0.574017 per $100 of assessed value and the previous year’s rate was approximately $0.4776 per $100. The difference between the two rates is: $0.574017 − $0.4776 = $0.096417 per $100, which is a 20.2% increase in the tax‐rate number (= 0.096417 ÷ 0.4776 ≈ 0.202).

Even if they did use their own number, 22.1%, instead of the more probable real one (see "Math Below," above), that still doesn't explain how "Austin with Prop Q" has a red bar that goes up to $7,626. That is an increase of almost 28%. My own taxes would only have gone up by 2.5%.

SaveAustinNow.com shows Prop Q will cost $1,631 "per individual."

Prop Q of $180.55 for my family of 4 would have cost us $45.14 "per individual."

What are the real numbers SaveAustinNow.com?

Hint: It is hard to know when you are making them up.


*Investing Locally: Why I Support Prop Q

If I can't do anything about the $1,518 that the Radical Republicans in the TX Legislature are legally stealing from me, then why would I vote to raise my property taxes even more?

(I was cautioned against saying "Radical Republicans." But I stand by this decision. I am tired of pussyfooting around the issue. Our State government is inarguably under Republican control, and taking this much away from AISD residents is part of a radical funding scheme. Let's start calling this what it is. Plus, my audience here is Austinites, and we do tend to vote a certain way.)

Maybe - hard to believe, I know - I care about where I live and think it is worth that $181 a year (and more in the future) to help better the society I live in. Or for totally selfish reasons, perhaps I want to pay this money so my kids stop seeing so many homeless people on the way to school… and asking me why they are there. Can it be both?

Here is what Prop Q would be for, broadly speaking: (https://www.austintexas.gov/page/ballot-propositions)

If we don't get that bolded part, we have to cut services. But the City is asking for additional funds, so that we will get that other stuff, too. You know, the parts for housing / mental-health / library / etc...

As the Austin Chronicle notes, "The $200 a year will pay for things we desperately want. For more than a decade, Austinites have demanded that city leaders do something about homelessness. Since COVID, we’ve wanted 911 calls to be handled **quicker. City leaders say – convincingly, we feel – that the Prop Q money will help solve these generational challenges. And it will also fund parks and schools and social services."

(https://www.austinchronicle.com/topic/elections/austin-chronicle-endorsements-for-the-november-2025-election/)

* It bears noting that reasonable people can differ on this, and can perhaps be justifiably unhappy at the way that City Council has behaved thus far, essentially forcing this Prop as a necessity. But this is where we are. There is no way to renegotiate any recently signed contracts, so we have to move forward.

** "more quickly," Chronicle. This is the hill I die on.

Here is how Prop Q would fit into what is already happening with my Property Taxes.


2.5%

Prop Q's probable share of my total property tax

20.7%

Poof! This already goes to the State in the form of "Recapture."


PART 2

Before we go further, a personal note. I am not against the idea of "Recapture" or of trying to make a level playing field for all Texas school children. My perhaps convoluted point is…


I just think, as we debate Prop Q, that we should have real information about both the size of Prop Q and where our Property Taxes actually go.


And Texas is now effectively using "rich district" money to avoid their job of actually having to pay for education. We have a ridiculously underfunded school system, and I might not mind "Recapture" so much if this were not the case.

More About This Mysterious "Recapture"

Texas's school finance system uses a bland accounting word, "Recapture," to siphon off money from "rich" districts. This system mandates that property-rich school districts, like Austin ISD, send a portion of their local property tax revenue to the State.

What portion? The State sets something called a "Basic Allotment" for every school child (it adjusts up based on variables like disability and demographics). Anything over that is pilfered.

So if our property values are high and we raise twice as much as our students supposedly "need," then we send that "extra" half away. And yeah, it is half. These days, it is actually more than half of the ongoing AISD budget (not the much smaller part that pays off bonds).

Where does this money go? Every last dollar the Radical Republicans "legally steal" from us through "Recapture" essentially flows right through to the main Texas budget, and it has for decades. I mean, sure, it goes to Education first, but then the Lege underfunds Education by the same amount, dollar for dollar. So they can say it goes to Education with a straight face, even though our billions-with-a-"b" of dollars don't increase the overall Education budget at all.

In 2024, Austin ISD paid Recapture of
$660,442,956
The year before, we paid Recapture of
$904,945,399

(https://tea.texas.gov/finance-and-grants/state-funding/excess-local-revenue, download the spreadsheet at the bottom: 1993-1994 to 2024-2025 Recapture Paid by District (Excel, 103 KB)

So Who Pays this "Recapture?"
Last year my family paid $1,518.
About ¾ of all Texans paid $0.
Here's who did pay, and how much:

The ISD population numbers are here: https://data.capitol.texas.gov/dataset/f2f1e176-e68a-4d39-af89-37ec7e7962dd/resource/bc272450-b81f-4e31-89a6-8b9747ae0384/download/red635_schooldistrict_population_sy2425.pdf


A Bigger Issue: Texas School Funding Has Plummeted

Recapture ensures that even as Austin's property values soar and local taxes increase, much of that extra revenue doesn't stay in Austin. This might not be so bad if the money then allotted by the State were sufficient to actually fund public education. But again, we are run by Republicans, so what does your gut say has happened to education spending recently? It is worse. No, really, whatever your gut says, it is worse.

For the 6 Years between 2019 and 2024,
The Legislature did not increase funding per student AT ALL.

Let me repeat that. Seriously. Let it sink in.

For the 6 Years between 2019 and 2024,
The Legislature did not increase funding per student AT ALL.
Spouse:

"They didn't even keep up with inflation through the Pandemic?"

Me:

"No."

And then in 2025 the Lege in its infinite wisdom raised the amount per student by $55. That is a slap in the face to every Texas citizen. This is in small type because I can't, I just can't. It is too awful for words.

If the Basic Allotment had kept pace with inflation, it would be about $1,500 higher per kid than it is. Per year.


"Recapture" reduced funding disparities in Texas -
by essentially making all schools underfunded.
The Eleven Billion-Dollar Secret

While local schools struggle with reduced budgets, the state of Texas has amassed a massive Rainy Day Fund. Let's put this whole thing into perspective. I am not implying that the Rainy Day Fund is directly funded by schools - it is basically funded from Oil and Tax revenue and from a transfer of half the money that is left after each two-year cycle, if there is any. But a dollar is a dollar, and nearly half of this fund would presumably have been needed to pay for Education if not for the input of Austin ISD residents.

$24B
Texas Rainy Day Fund

The current balance of the state's "Economic Stabilization Fund."

$11B
AISD's Recapture

Austin ISD's total contribution to "Recapture," inflation-adjusted (over $8 billion in nominal numbers)

45%

Percentage of the Rainy Day Fund represented by Austin ISD's Recapture payments.

This is a dramatic transfer of wealth from local school systems to state coffers, yet it is largely hidden.

As a wise friend of mine noted: "The Texas Constitution prohibits a state-wide property tax; this is the backdoor way to get that done."

We're Debating Prop Q's cost of $Millions
While at the same time, $Billions will vanish.

And here is what we haven't even talked about. Austin ISD is currently undergoing a cataclysmic, generational shift as it tries to close a budgetary shortfall. 12 schools, including some dear to my heart, are set to be permanently closed. This is its own massive issue.

Austin parents are up in arms (with yard signs and demonstrations) against AISD for the proposed closures. And as I mentioned, Austinites are clawing at one another over Prop Q. And yet all of this is over a veritable pittance compared to what is taken from us.

If we had a level playing field and weren't having about A FIFTH of our property taxes wholesale taken from us, do you think we would be fighting?

This is how we become divided instead of focusing on what we have in common.

I'm a person, not a PAC. There is no fund-raising associated with this site. Vote how you want to. You can contact me here: RecaptureRecapture@gmail.com