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San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones listens while Mai Elsberry provides public comment during a City Council meeting in San Antonio on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. The City Council voted on its fiscal year 2027 budget and approved its first tax rate hike in over 30 years.<\/p>\n
Katina Zentz\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
Mayor Gina\u00a0Ortiz Jones on Tuesday pitched a \u201cframework\u201d for the city\u2019s next bond package that would keep its size modest\u00a0and would set aside most of the money for projects in San Antonio\u2019s poorer districts.<\/p>\n
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Jones made her proposal in a memo, her preferred means of communicating with City Council and City Manager Erik Walsh,\u00a0days after Walsh recommended\u00a0that council put a $442 million bond package<\/a> on the May 2027 ballot. That\u2019s the amount of debt the city could issue without having to raise the property tax rate.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI continue to believe that any amount requiring a property tax increase will fail at the ballot,\u201d Jones wrote. \u201cHaving just raised property taxes, combined with the economic conditions facing our community, I believe we should be moderately conservative.\u201d<\/p>\n The council voted 7-4 on Sept. 17\u00a0to adopt a new city budget<\/a> that comes with a 3.9% property tax hike\u00a0\u2014 the first rate increase in more than three decades. Jones joined Council members Marina Alderete Gavito, Misty Spears and Marc Whyte in voting against it.<\/p>\n Jones, Alderete Gavito and Whyte were again in the minority last week in wanting to go with Walsh\u2019s proposal. Spears was absent from the Sept. 30 special council meeting.<\/p>\n Other members suggested going with a $1 billion bond given the city\u2019s infrastructure needs, even though it would require another take hike. City officials also want the council to consider raising the stormwater rate<\/a> (which appears on residents\u2019 water bill) over a five-year period to fund drainage projects.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Jones was not immediately available for comment.<\/p>\n In her memo, she pitched devoting $75 million of a $442 million bond package to affordable housing initiatives.<\/p>\n Eighty-five percent of the remaining $367 million\u00a0\u2014 $312 million\u00a0\u2014 would be split among Council Districts 1 through 5 because they \u201chave historically been underinvested in,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n By that, she meant that the districts spanning the East, West and South sides have received less city infrastructure spending than the wealthier North Side.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The $55 million left over would be divided among Districts 6 through 10, according to her suggested bond framework.<\/p>\n Absent from the mayor\u2019s proposal is using bond dollars to fund $35 million worth of\u00a0roadway improvements around the planned Spurs arena at Hemisfair. The city\u2019s bond program is the funding source city officials have long eyed to pay for infrastructure to support the arena.<\/p>\n Jones wrote that bond money should not pay for any projects that could be funded by one of two special taxing zones: one that lets the city tap state hotel tax revenue to be used on the arena, convention center or\u00a0Alamodome, and another that collects city property taxes to encourage private investment.<\/p>\n