This story has been updated.<\/p>\n
Just a week out from the city\u2019s budget vote, the San Antonio City Council remains divided on major top-line spending issues that could radically shape the size and direction of city government.<\/p>\n
The council has approved several budgets without the support of dissenting members in recent years. <\/p>\n
But a tax increase \u2014 something the city hasn\u2019t done in more than 30 years \u2014 requires 60% support, Budget Director Freddie Martinez said Thursday.<\/p>\n
Three council members have already said they won\u2019t support raising taxes to close a budget deficit, voting against a procedural measure<\/a> that gave staff the authority to even explore such a move on Aug. 13.<\/p>\n If they can\u00a0get two more members\u00a0on their side next week, the rate hike would be off the table, triggering major cuts across the board.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would have to go back and revise the budget,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cWithout the seven votes, the property tax would stay at the current rate.\u201d<\/p>\n City Council has been meeting for months now to strategize their way out of a massive $158 million budget deficit over the next two years.<\/p>\n In August, city staff pitched a formal budget proposal that calls for a combination of $90 million in spending cuts<\/a>, $30 million from increased fees \u2014 plus a 3.9% property tax increase<\/a> that council members across the political spectrum have expressed concern about.<\/p>\n Against that backdrop, the city\u2019s normal budget calendar was adjusted last minute to explore alternate scenarios, showing the council what services it\u2019d be losing without a tax increase.<\/p>\n Casualties listed in that Aug. 19 exercise<\/a> included summer youth programs, pavement markings, home repair programs and others cuts so painful that Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito (D7) \u2014 one of the biggest rate hike skeptics \u2014 accused city staff of purposefully<\/a> turning council members against one another to shut it down.<\/p>\n Now that unpopular plan could become the city\u2019s budget blueprint.<\/p>\n City Manager Erik Walsh said in the Aug. 19 meeting that staff has limited options of where to cut when it comes to the general fund, which pays for day-to-day city operations, including many public-facing services. <\/p>\n He asked the council whether staff should pivot to one of its alternative budget proposals so that it can do the necessary risk analysis, something they hadn\u2019t had time to do for all of the potential scenarios.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to create parallel budget processes,\u201d Walsh said at the time. \u201cWe have too many work sessions that we\u2019re planning, and and it\u2019s going to get really confusing.\u201d<\/p>\n Weeks later, however, the council looks poised to debate major spending decisions right down to the wire.<\/p>\n Members have two budget work sessions left next week before the Sept. 17 budget vote, and on Wednesday night, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said she\u2019d already proposed several big changes to avoid some of the most painful cuts.<\/p>\n She spent the past two months pushing the council to free up other resources by reconsidering\u00a0funding for a new $1.3 billion Spurs arena<\/a> and\u00a0sunsetting a major Nirenberg-era workforce development program<\/a> \u2014 both of which fell flat.<\/p>\n On Wednesday night, she presented budget proposals that would restore library funding by cutting city spending on Fiesta events, keep a maternal health program by canceling a $2 million contribution to UTSA\u2019s school of public health, and move some public art funding to pay for programs at senior centers.<\/p>\n \u201cIs all this going to be successful? I don\u2019t know,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n Still, Jones faced questions about a tax increase that some residents consider worse than the budget cuts. <\/p>\n Raising taxes would hit wealthier parts of the city harder, according to a city analysis<\/a>, which has swayed some of the council\u2019s more progressive members against voting it down.<\/p>\n