Austin City Council Election 1999

Two separate elections were held in 1998 that did not involve a mayoral or council contest. Most notable was the May 1998 election. Proposition 2 on the ballot asked voters to approve $65 million to acquire land in the Barton Springs Contributing and Recharge Zone to be preserved in perpetuity to protect water quality in the Barton Springs portion of the Edwards Aquifer. The measure was approved by 53 percent of voters. While Prop 2’s margin of victory was not large as in the 1992 passage of the Save Our Springs Ordinance, it nevertheless underscored the community’s ongoing commitment to environmental protection.

The 1999 council election was the first to be conducted under the City Charter amendment passed in November 1997 as Proposition 1 to regulate political fund-raising and expenditures.

Prop 1 got on the ballot through a petition drive conducted by Austinites for a Little Less Corruption—but only after the city clerk at the time ruled the petitions were not sufficient and his decision was overturned in federal court.

in the 1999 council election, all three incumbents seeking reelection won without a runoff: Jackie Goodman, Beverly Griffith, and Daryl Slusher.