San Antonio council members have to weigh in on a tax rate hike and millions in budget cuts.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
City Council members are pushing back on proposed cuts to health funds, library staff and tuition reimbursement for municipal employees — reductions offered by city staff to cut into a huge budget deficit.
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones and the 10-member council must adopt a budget for fiscal year 2027, which starts Oct. 1, and property tax rate in one month.
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City Manager Erik Walsh has proposed more than $41 million in cuts and the first property tax rate hike in three decades to help fill a $158 million hole in the general fund over the next two years.
Next year’s general fund, which supports basic city services, totals $1.76 billion. The city’s overall proposed budget is $4.4 billion.
But many council members called on Walsh to restore some of the planned cuts.
Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran opposed cutting 15 staffers from the city’s Metropolitan Health District. Losing the workers would kill a pilot program aimed at reducing maternal mortality and end another group within the health department that’s working to improve prenatal care.
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The city is looking to cut 101 positions from its payroll, 54 of which are currently filled. Walsh has said he doesn’t anticipate layoffs because his staffers are trying to find new positions for each affected employees. But Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez asked that their jobs be left alone, in part because shuffling people around could lead to greater inefficiencies down the road.
Jones and council members Edward Mungia and Teri Castillo want budget writers to keep tuition reimbursement for city employees seeking certificates and college degrees. More than 200 employees currently tap the city program.
Mungia and McKee-Rodriguez also worried about cutting more than $2 million for scholarships that are are distributed to hundreds of students across the city.
Several council members don’t want the city to cut 39 library staffers across the city system, one of the many cuts in reduction in the proposed budget.
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The budget document says the cut shouldn’t hurt day-to-day services at the library. The circulation of books and other materials has dropped by 40% since 2019, while the circulation of digital books and other works has soared by 161%, according to the spending plan.
But opponents of the cut said libraries are more than a place to grab a book. Castillo said a healthy library system is especially important now because some school districts have cut or reduced their library staffs.
“Libraries serve as cooling centers, warming centers. It’s where individuals go to make copies and get (Internet) hot spots,” Castillo said. “They’re very important hubs beyond just checking out a book. I just want to ensure there is staff available if constituents have a question about a resource.”
Jones suggested the city find funds to cover the library position by reducing how much it contributes to Síclovía, Fiesta, the San Antonio Botanical Garden and the San Antonio Book Festival.
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Fees, tax hikes
Councilman Marc Whyte has said he won’t support a property tax rate increase, and he’s called for additional budget cuts. Last week, he and council colleagues Alderete Gavito and Misty Spears failed in their attempt to shoot down a measure that allows the city to entertain the possibility of a property rate increase.
Council members will consider raising the property tax rate by two cents, to just over 56 cents per $100 assessed value. Walsh said that could raise the city tax bill for the average homeowner with a homestead exemption by just under $3 each month, or a little more than $35 each year.
On Wednesday, council members will review what the budget would look like if they refuse to raise the tax rate and must cut an additional $29 million from the budget.
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Walsh has said his current proposal doesn’t include cuts that would have a major affect on city services. But without a rate hike, he’s said the city would likely make deep cuts in Human Services, Parks and Recreation, the library system or health department funds.
“I am adamantly opposed to a property tax increase,” Alderete Gavito said. “I know these cuts are hard but we need to do them so we don’t put the financial burden on our residents.”
The city has also outlined increases or new additions to 100 fees to help bring in more revenue. That will raise the cost to EMS transportation, short-term housing rental permits and trash collection.
Aldrete Gavito has asked the city also raise how much a person is fined for speeding.
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Viagran, the councilwoman most open to a tax rate increase, argued that residents will have to pay the price of the deficit either through higher fees or a tax rate hike and called on her colleagues to pitch projects to cut.
“Those of you who don’t want a property tax increase — put those multimillion-dollar Public Works projects on the chopping block,” Viagran said. “Because going $500,000 or $1 million at a time is not going to get this done.”