SAN ANTONIO \u2014 It\u2019s that time of year again where hundreds of cities and counties are wrestling with huge budget gaps and plans to hike property taxes, including San Antonio.<\/p>\n
The proposed property tax increase that the San Antonio City Council is considering would be an additional $2.95 a month.<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s not what\u2019s grabbing the attention of homeowners. It\u2019s the fact that the proposed property tax increase hasn\u2019t happened since the 1990s.<\/p>\n
This comes after the city budget plans were announced in early August.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m against the property tax increase. I think the city really needs to tighten their belt a little more. We do that as homeowners. I think they need to do the same,\u201d Bianca Maldonado said.<\/p>\n
Maldonado was just one of nearly 200 people at a town hall meeting in San Antonio last week; multiple meetings like it are happening across the city.<\/p>\n
Maldonado attended the meeting to stay informed on what\u2019s going on with the city\u2019s budget plans \u2014 plans that involve closing the $158 million budget deficit over the next two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, if you\u2019re going to have an increase property taxes, what is the increase in service you\u2019re going to get from the city? We\u2019re not really there yet. We\u2019re looking at cuts, and cuts means less service. So how can they be smarter with the dollar they get every day?\u201d asked Maldonado.<\/p>\n
Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito is opposed to hiking up property taxes. She held the town hall meeting to answer questions that Maldonado and others have.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn short, I would say\u2026the city has a spending problem. We\u2019re spending a lot more than we\u2019re taking in,\u201d said Alderete Gavito.<\/p>\n
Alderete Gavito thinks there are other options that can be considered before passing the cost on to San Antonio residents, especially since a property tax increase hasn\u2019t been on the table as an option in the Alamo City in over three decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are feeling the squeeze at grocery stores. People are feeling the squeeze at gas stations. All of these additions really add up for residents. I know it\u2019s $2.95 a month, but that equates to $70 a year,\u201d said Alderete Gavito.<\/p>\n
The city has projected a $158 million deficit in fiscal year 2028, as expected expenses outpace revenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maldonado said although the total increase would be minimal per property owner, it all adds up when factoring in other potential increases with other city entities, like the city-owned water provider, San Antonio Water System (SAWS), and power provider CPS Energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know there\u2019s a rate increase coming for SAWS, potentially. There may be a rate increase coming for CPS behind that. Our garbage fee is going up, and we know things aren\u2019t cheap when we go to the grocery store,\u201d said Maldonado.<\/p>\n
Alderete Gavito\u2019s goal is to go back to the drawing board and find a reasonable option.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to work with city staff to figure out how we can make this budget the best it can be without a property tax increase,\u201d said the councilwoman.<\/p>\n
City Council will vote on the tax rate and overall budget on Sept. 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2014 It\u2019s that time of year again where hundreds of cities and counties are wrestling with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,1570,102,138,6716,1063,223,287,82,27,1569,835],"class_list":["post-415375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-ctv","tag-dallas","tag-el-paso","tag-lauren-kendrick","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-san-antonio","tag-texas","tag-texas-what-you-need-to-know","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}