City Council - Regular Meeting

Let's go. thoughts go missing by me that i'm lacking satisfaction and i could lie see or try to fight it but i've got no false reactions left it i've been praying whooping meditating so the past might let me be i know that

For people who prefer to listen to this meeting in Spanish, you can go with our team of interpreters to the back of the Council and City Hall to receive assistance. You can also tune in the transmission of the Council meetings completely in Spanish using the SAP system through the channels you see on the screen. If you prefer to see the transmission from a mobile device, or to download the agenda for today's meeting, visit the website of the City of San Antonio, sa.gov.tvsa.

Good morning. The time is now 9.15 a.m. on September 17th, 2026, and the meeting of the San Antonio City Council is called to order. Madam Clerk, please call roll.

Council Member Kaur. Here. Council Member McKee-Rodriguez.

Present.

Council Member Villagran. Here. Council Member Munguia. Present. Council Member Castillo. Here. Council Member Galvan.

Here.

Council Member Alderete-Gavito. Here. Council Member Meza-Gonzalez. Present. Council Member Speers. Present. Council Member White. Here. Mayor Jones. Here. Mayor, we have quorum.

Great. Thank you, Madam Clerk. I'd like to recognize Council Member Spears to introduce today's invocateur.

Well, I'm honored to have Pastor Will Davis here with us today. He is a fifth-generation San Antonio resident and has deep roots in our community, and he serves at Christ Community Church in Stone Oak. He has dedicated his ministry to serving families, strengthening the community, and helping people grow in their faith. Will also has deep ties to San Antonio beyond his ministry. He and his wife Kara are raising five children here, giving him a strong connection to the families and community he serves. And he has a pretty cool connection to the NBA. Will co-hosts the Coaching for Life podcast with former NBA player and coach Monte Williams, talking leadership, faith, and life beyond the basketball court. He is someone who has spent his life investing in people and in this community. We are grateful for his service, his leadership, and his commitment to Stone Oak and San Antonio. It's an honor to have him here today. I'm grateful that he will be leading us in prayers as our invocator. And I'll also add that every time I ask him for help for a community space, for anything, he just says yes and makes it happen. And it really is so helpful to me in what I'm doing. So thank you. Thank you personally. So Pastor Will. Thank you.

Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you today for our wonderful city of San Antonio, a beautifully diverse city with such a rich cultural heritage and history. And may we never take for granted the responsibility you have entrusted to us to serve our citizens and to steward the many resources that you have provided to us. And Lord, we pray for your wisdom to lead and guide the men and women of the City Council as they address the pertinent issues facing us today. Give us open ears and receptive hearts to listen to the concerns of the people that we have been called to serve. And we always seek to help the hurting and those in need. We thank you for our military here in Military City, USA and for all of our first responders. We are so grateful for each and every one of them and for their sacrifice and service to us. We thank you specifically for our Air Force as we celebrate its birthday today. We can't imagine our great city without the Air Force. We pray for your hand of protection over them. And Lord, I do thank you for our mayor and for each council member and for the districts and the people that they represent. But ultimately, we represent you, God, and we are accountable to you. So give each one of us your humility and your peace. Bless this meeting. We pray for unity and decorum as we discuss and vote on our budget today. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Thank you, Pastor. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Item 3 is approval of the minutes for the City Council meetings of September 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, 2026. Is there a motion and second for approval of the minutes?

Second.

Okay. It is moved and seconded to approve the minutes. Please vote. The motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. As mentioned today, we have special guests with us to celebrate the 79th birthday of our United States Air Force. Representing the Air Force today is Colonel John Farmer, commander of the 502nd Security Forces Group and Chief Master Sergeant Fukui. Thank you for your leadership and service to our Airmen and Joint Base San Antonio community. As a proud Air Force veteran and having served as the 27th Undersecretary of the Air Force, I'm thankful for your work and certainly the Air Force's work all throughout the world to keep our country safe and to, frankly, ensure a certain global stability and global security that only the U.S. Air Force can provide. And we're so thankful to host the Gateway to the Air Force and the Space Force here at Lackland Air Force Base. Um, we, our connection obviously runs deep as I mentioned with basic, uh, to even hosting pilot training at joint base, San Antonio Randolph, uh, to cyber intelligence, medical readiness, um, the air forces woven into our community. So on behalf of the city of San Antonio, I wish you a happy 79th birthday, um, to our United States air force. And now we'll have, um, remarks from Colonel farmer, please. And chief as well as if you'd like, you're, you're more than welcome.

Thank you, ma'am. Happy birthday, United States Air Force. Major Ortiz Jones, distinguished members of the City Council, Major General Retired Jackson, honored veterans, service members, citizens of San Antonio. On behalf of Brigadier General David Wilson, Commander, Joint Base San Antonio, the entire JBSA leadership team, and our mission partners across the region, It is my distinct privilege to stand with you today as we commemorate the 79th birthday of the United States Air Force. The sun never sets on the United States Air Force or its mission. Around the clock, across every time zone and domain, our airmen stand ready to fly, fight, and win, and deliver American air power anytime, anywhere. Yet while our mission circles the globe, it's particularly profound to mark this milestone right here in San Antonio. Because simply put, you cannot tell the story of American air power without telling the story of this great city. And while the United States Air Force officially became independent 79 years ago, On September 18th, 1947, our military aviation heritage stretches back much further. It began in 1907 with the Aeronautical Division of the US Army Signal Corps. And on March 2nd, 1910, nearby at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, military aviation was born. And on this historic morning, First Lieutenant Benjamin Filloy boarded a Wright-Kennard biplane alongside a dedicated crew of enlisted mechanics known as the Flying Soldiers. And on his maiden flight that day, Lieutenant Filloy flew for just over seven minutes, reached an altitude of 200 feet and a top speed of 30 miles per hour. And from those initial seven minutes over San Antonio soil emerged the greatest air force the world has ever known. Filloy and the 1st Aero Squadron proved the operational value of military aviation. Subsequently, combat in the skies over World War I rapidly accelerated tactics and technologies. Visionaries during the interwar periods championed air power's necessity. And during World War II, the Army Air Forces forged a global armada that proved control of the skies was critical to decisive victory. And when the National Security Act codified the Air Force independence as a separate branch of service in 1947, it ratified a truth forged in trial that an agile, technologically superior Air Force is indispensable to the defense of this nation. And just as San Antonio witnessed the dawn of military flight, this city became the permanent gateway to our service. And on June 1941, construction began on an open pasture that served as an extension of Kelly Field, soon establishing the San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center. By February 1946, recruit training was consolidated here, centralizing basic military training under the Texas sky. And two years later, that installation was christened Lackland Air Force Base, forever known to history as the gateway to the Air Force. And since 1946, more than seven million young Americans have taken their initial steps into military life on the drill pads at Lackland. And today, under Joint Base San Antonio, Lackland remains the sole entry point transforming civilian volunteers to disciplined airmen and guardians. San Antonio truly is the lifeblood of our force and the heart that sustains it. Here stands Headquarters Air Education and Training Command recruiting and educating more than 300,000 personnel each year. Here operates the Air Force Personnel Center, steering the careers of 1.3 million total force professionals. Here thrives Headquarters 19th Air Force, directing nearly half of the Air Force's flying air program, alongside the historic 12th Flying Training Wing, forging the finest instructor pilots on earth. And the list goes on. Virtually every capability we bring to the fight traces its roots back to this great city. And this bond is far more than institutional, it is deeply personal. On August 9th, 1991, a 19-year-old recruit named John Farmer boarded a bus in Tulsa, Oklahoma with a one-way ticket to catch a flight from Oklahoma City to San Antonio. And like many of my friends, I only knew of San Antonio through my history books, but mostly through country songs. I joined because I needed a direction, a challenge, and a purpose. And stepping onto that bus, quite frankly, I was terrified. But stepping off that bus and meeting my military training instructors at Lackland was even scarier. I never imagined that I would be one of those someday. And I never could have imagined that a single journey would unfold into an Air Force career spanning more than three decades. I did not know that San Antonio would become the home where my children and grandchildren were born and raised and where my family would build their lives and where our deepest roots would take hold. I certainly never dreamed that 35 years later I would stand in Municipal Plaza before this distinguished council to represent my service. My story is not unique. It is shared by hundreds of thousands of service members who came here as recruits and chose to stay as neighbors. You see, the crown jewel of the United States Air Force is not our stealth aircraft, our precision weapons, or our advanced technologies. Our advantage is our people. It is our ability to take young citizens from every corner of this country and empower them to do the extraordinary. And we cannot accomplish what we do around this globe without the steadfast advocacy, warmth, and partnership of Military City USA. And in closing, I am reminded of the charge shared by my commander, Brigadier General Wilson. We are not here just to be something. We are here to do something. With the continued dedication of our airmen and the enduring support of the city of San Antonio, there's nothing our combined team cannot accomplish. Mayor Ortiz-Jones, council members, civic leaders, thank you for honoring us today. Happy 79th birthday to the United States Air Force. And Mayor Jones, would you please join me in cutting the cake? Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, please direct your attention to the center of the room for the United States Air Force birthday cake cutting ceremony. For all those who have served in the United States Air Force, would you please come forward and form up behind Mayor Jones and Colonel Farmer. Traditionally, regardless of location, service members will pause to observe their service branch's birthday with a ceremonial cutting and sharing of a cake. A sword is typically used to cut the cake as a reminder that service members are a band of warriors committed to carrying the sword so that our nation may live in peace. For seven to nine years, Airmen have answered the call to defend our nation, protect our freedoms, and deliver air power and capabilities whenever and wherever they are needed. We honor all those who have worn the uniform of the United States Air Force, and we thank the families and communities who have supported them throughout their service. Happy 79th birthday, United States Air Force. Aim high, fly, fight, win.

Before we cut the cake, we're gonna sing, right? All right, we're gonna take this shot. Oh, we're gonna, okay.

Oh, we're gonna take a picture too. One, two, three. One, two, three. We're good. Anybody?

Okay, on three. One, two, three. Off we go.

one two three okay i didn't eat breakfast this morning that's my feet let's go all right thank you yeah thank you this was an honor that's wonderful that was great remarks too just to put it all in perspective thank you all right thank you for being here thank you thank you so much that was pretty good slam All right, cool. Thank you. You don't have to eat the whole time. Okay.

Thanks, Chief.

Thank you for your service.

Thank you again and happy birthday to our United States Air Force. Tomorrow, September 18th, marks Prisoner of War and Missing in Action Day, which is observed each year. And so today we'll honor those brave Americans who endured captivity as prisoners of war. Remember those who remain missing in action and stand with the families who continue to wait for answers. Here in Military City USA, we understand the profound sacrifices of military service. We stand with their families, honor their service, and reaffirm our promise that no one will ever be forgotten. Please join me in a moment of silence as we recognize and commemorate the prisoners of war and those missing in action. Thank you. Is there any objection to taking the consent agenda before the individual items so that we make clear the business of the day? Okay. There is no objection. Items 11 through 24 are on the consent agenda. That means they'll be considered as a group and there will not be a staff, excuse me? oh okay there's already a lot going on today Eric okay this this means they will be considered as a group and they will not be a staff presentation unless pulled for individual consideration okay hearing none are there any items council members would like to pull from the consent agenda to be heard individually okay okay hearing none we have let's see a couple of folks 11 through 24, we have one member of the public that has signed up to speak on item 11. Teresa Gutierrez, please. Teresa Gutierrez. Okay. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Motion to approve.

It's moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda are there items or questions about the consent agenda from my colleagues Okay Hearing none there being no further discussion. There's a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda. Please vote. I The motion carries, thank you. The next item is the city manager's report. Eric, over to you.

No manager's report today, Mayor.

All right, thank you. So items five through 10 are the budget items. I believe staff has a presentation for all six items, so if there's no objection, we'll take public comment and discussion for all six items together. However, these items will have individual votes, okay? Madam Clerk, please read the captions for items

six five through ten five through ten item five is an ordinance adopting the annual consolidated operating and capital budgets for the city of san antonio fiscal year 2027 that begins october 1st approving projects included in the fiscal year 2027 through fiscal year 2031 five-year infrastructure management plan approving the fiscal year 2027 to fiscal year 2032 six-year capital improvements program for the city of san antonio approving certain contracts providing for one-time annuity increases for retirees and their beneficiaries and a revision to the city's contribution rate in connection with the Texas municipal retirement system authorizing personnel complements appropriating funds amending related ordinances and and authorizing the city manager to further amend the budget and make necessary adjustments to maintain a balanced budget. Item number 6 is an ordinance ratifying the adoption of the fiscal year 2027 budget that will raise more revenue for property taxes than in the fiscal year 2026 budget. Item number 7 is an ordinance setting the ad valorem tax rate for maintenance and operation of the City of San Antonio at 35.138 cents per $100 of taxable valuation for the tax year beginning on January 1st, 2026 and ending on December 31st, 2026. Item number eight is an ordinance setting the ad valorem city property tax rate to pay the principal and interest on the funded debt of the city of San Antonio at twenty one point one five zero cents per $100 of taxable valuation for the tax year beginning on January 1st 2026 and ending on December 31st 2026 Item number nine is an ordinance amending fees as included within fiscal year 2027 budget within the general fund and certain restricted funds and amending the city code of San Antonio, Texas to reflect such changes. Item number 10 is an ordinance carrying forward certain fiscal year 2026 funds amending prior appropriations, appropriating funds for requirements in city projects, initiatives, and departments.

Okay. Thank you. Oh, Eric's talking. Okay. Eric, over to you.

Yep. Mayor, we've got a quick presentation Justina will give.

Good morning, Mayor and City Council. Wanted to provide a quick overview of the final amendments that were provided to you last night through a memo. Today we'll talk about the amendments, both revenues and expenses, as well as changes in the restricted funds. So included in last night's memo, we provided additional revenue increases of about $4.5 million over two years, about $2.2 million annually. This includes increases to our booting fees, increases to vacant lot and dangerous premise abatement administrative fees, increases to our parking fines for certain violations, increases to the river barge ticket fees for adult non-resident, from $15 to $20. Increase to our hazmat fees for retailed gas stations for those that have less than 30,000, increasing from 150 to $173. And for those that have more than 30,000 gallons, from 600 to 690. And finally, increasing the non-resident library card increase from $20 to $30. With these resources, they will fund an additional nine increases to our expenses, about $4.5 million over two years. This includes restoring several items that were proposed as reductions in the fiscal year 2027 proposed budget. This includes restoring part-time nutrition sites at Darner. It restores the tuition reimbursement for employees It also restores the San Antonio education partnerships for only scholarships for only city of San Antonio residents. It restores funding for one position that supports cultural initiatives at the office of history and preservation. And it restores funding for the gastronomy program for world heritage for one year. The amendments also restore funding for DSC says of about $40,000 that would be funded through mayor and city council carry forwards. restores the climate adaptation manager, and restores five filled positions within the health department. This includes three maternal health positions, one position that supports the mayor's fitness council, and finally, one position for performance analyst. And finally, it also includes funding for the after-school challenge for the Southwest Independent School District. Amendments to our restricted funds and capital budget this includes 1 million dollars five hundred thousand dollars each each year for the women's health programs or the reproductive justice this is funded out of the Medicaid waiver reserves and Finally it amends our capital budget to increase the capital improvement projects for each City Council district from two hundred thousand to $1 million for a total increase of $8 million to the capital budget. This would be funded through our debt capacity. That concludes my presentation. I'm happy to take any questions.

Justina, just for clarification, the gastronomy we discussed yesterday, that would be absorbed by Visit San Antonio. So even though it's identified as restored, that's how it's restored. Right.

Okay. It's restored in the city's general fund in year one, in fiscal year 27, and absorbed by Visit San Antonio in fiscal year 28. Good.

One second. If you have questions on the presentation, please sign in. Okay, first, we'll do that. We'll move to it. Is it just a clarifying question? Okay.

Go ahead, Councilwoman. Thank you. Just a quick, quick clarifying question. Yesterday we talked about the San Antonio Education Partnership and how those funds could potentially come out of our carry forward in each district. I didn't see that reflected in the presentation, so I just wanted to clarify.

yes ma'am so in the last night's memo we included with some of the restoration that was included in last last night's memo of SAP it restored the memo restores 1.5 of the 2.1 million dollars and then as as you requested we included in the memo last night the carry forward balances in each district if you all were to choose to do that there's about there's an additional $700,000 to get them back to that 2.1 million dollars that's not included in the amendment memos we included is for information to answer your question in the memo last night okay

just to clarify that point go ahead I believe that district 7 9 and 10 have enough carry forward to make up that balance I know many of us have projects and whatnot so is that a decision that we would each individually make to contribute or What are you looking for there?

Yeah, I think you all individually would need to kind of weigh in whether or not you want to make a contribution of those dollars from those accounts to make up that $700,000 difference. So it's an individual conversation. And while I'm answering that question, let me also include in there that wasn't in the presentation we did include in the in the memo and it is included as part of the this is included as part of the amendment the the issue that councilman McKee Rodriguez raised yesterday with the Boys and Girls Club and that emergency funding contingent on a plan that is that is included and then the lastly the use of fiscal year $26, the $1.45 million for the emergency homeowner repair assistance as it relates to the August 28th storm that parts of the city incurred. Thank you.

clarify if folks want to contribute to that to make up the difference they would they would do so individually and not as part of this budget item they could do it as part of this budget item but they need to individually kind of weigh in weigh in when they do that okay so please include that in your remarks thank you okay we'll move on to public comment we have and again this is for items five through ten and I'll call you in the order that you have signed up The first person to speak is Zachary Carrasco, followed by Ed Banas, and then Ann Acevedo. Everyone will have three minutes to speak, and groups of three or more will have a total of nine minutes. Zachary, hold on, so it's Zachary first, Zachary Carrasco, and then Ed Banas, and then Anna Acevedo.

Hi, good morning. My name is Zachary Carrasco. I'm a senior at Taft High School, founder and president of the Taft Bike Club, and a student mentor with the Mayor's Fitness Council. My story with the Mayor's Fitness Council started long before I ever imagined standing here. Growing up with the congenital heart defect, which affects one out of every 100 kids, there were times where I had to sit on the sidelines while other kids played. I wanted to participate. I wanted to be a part of a team. I wanted to belong. And when sports and music told me no, cycling found me. Through cycling, I found the Marist Fitness Council. The Marist Fitness Council gave me something I've been looking for, and that was my voice. Someone believed in me and gave me the opportunity to lead and to serve. That opportunity eventually became the Taft Bike Club. What started with one student looking for a place to belong has become an opportunity of more than 100 students. We've ridden over thousands of miles throughout San Antonio, participated in Fiesta events, and taught students how to ride and care for their bikes. And most importantly, giving students a place to feel welcome. But the greatest thing we've done isn't miles or events. It's the students. It's the student who found confidence. It's the student who found a friend. The student who discovered they could lead. And that's the impact of the Mayor's Fitness Council. And that's why it's frustrating to me that a program that has created so many opportunities for young people is even being considered for cuts. Because the impact doesn't stop with the students of the Mayor's Fitness Council. Those students take what they learn back to their schools, their clubs, their friends, and their communities. One opportunity can create another. And I know that because that's exactly what happened to me. If the Mayor's Fitness Council, with the Mayor's Fitness Council, if I never had the opportunity, there might have not been a Taft Bike Club. And more than 100 students might have not found the community that they came from in. And there are still students waiting for their opportunity. We are the future doctors, nurses, teachers, business owners, and leaders of San Antonio. But we can't expect young people to lead tomorrow if we don't give them the opportunities to lead today. We need people who believe in us. We need places where our voices can be heard. So please, don't take away opportunities We have to think about the young people who we haven't met yet, the leaders who haven't found their voice, and the possibilities we haven't discovered. Please save the Mayor's Fitness Council because the future of San Antonio is sitting in our classrooms right now and we deserve the opportunity to build it. Thank you.

Thank you. Ed Banas, Ed Banas, followed by Ana Acevedo, then Paul Rodriguez, and then Dr. Rocha Garcia. Please make your way to the center.

Hello.

Buenos dias.

Ed Banas from District 4. Happy birthday, Air Force. Ex-Coast Guard, 1977, getting off the bus at boot camp. No, you don't forget that. OK, lots to vote on. So it is all over but the count. Why does anyone want to cut $1 from any program? Maybe going forward, you don't add anything. I want every big capital project out there, but also all the little ones. I drove for Via and have seen the city. Maybe everyone can go home and cut 5% off their budget. I still urge six of you to vote for all the increases. Most big wins are just by one point. This is a rich country, the richest country ever. We are not broke. It is a lack of proper distribution of our wealth, and it is being distributed, disputed, disputed, I can't say the word, oops, one way or the other. No nyosa? Okay. But I say this in ending, thank all of you for working I'm retired, and don't miss it. Yay. Have a great weekend.

Thank you. Ana Acevedo, followed by Paul Rodriguez, then Dr. Rocha Garcia, and then Father Drennan. Good morning.

Dr. Rocha Garcia and I will be together.

Six minutes, ma'am.

great thank you so much so good morning mayor and council on behalf of the 2 900 saep scholarship college students awaiting their awards this semester i want to thank you for voicing support for the city's scholarship and outreach funding to the san antonio education partnership I urge you to vote for the budget that includes the amendments for this funding and respectfully ask you to consider bringing the amount to the full $2.2 million. Approving the scholarship funding today will bring financial and emotional relief to these 2,900 students who have already met all the requirements for the scholarship. They will again have the confidence to persist in their studies and to continue on their journey to degree attainment. They will know that the city of San Antonio stands with them. And the return on investment will be known and seen as they become the leaders and the professionals in our community that will ensure San Antonio stays economically competitive where all San Antonians will thrive. I also respectfully ask that you vote to increase the tax rate. Likewise, this measure will allow the city to continue to provide quality services that all residents deserve. I have seen and heard each one of you speak passionately on behalf of all the residents of San Antonio. And I thank you for your hard work, your long days and long nights to get to this point. Thank you.

Mayor and Council, good morning. Thank you for all that you do for our community and for the work that you do each and every day and will continue to do. It's good to see all of you all this morning. Budget Day used to be my favorite day. And just up until a couple of years ago, I know, Councilman, you laugh. But it really was. But just until a couple of years ago, I started getting really worried and I was the chicken little saying the sky is falling and we need a plan B and we need a plan C and here we are. I said several times that there is going to be some issues that the next council would be grappling with and I do not envy any one of you today. I wish you the best of luck and I wish that you will lead with your hearts as well as look at some really creative solutions. to help address the situation that we're in today. I appreciate that you all have been here. We'll continue to work together. We'll continue to listen to each other's ideas, creative ideas to help us get past this. Now, thank you to all of you who have already started considering different ideas to how to solve for the San Antonio Education Partnerships gap. I have not taken, I said this last night, I have not taken a vacation day in about 14 months. I've been a little busy with some projects. However, I had it very important in my heart to be here today, and I took the last two days off as well, talking to superintendents and to university presidents, as many as I could, and they are all worried. They couldn't be here today. Of course, they have the business of a school to run, of a university to run, and of students to protect. The San Antonio Education Partnership has funded 15,000 students. I'm an alum. I'm here to represent them today as well. The 2,900 students that are right now in class or at work that couldn't be here, I get to represent them as well, and I'm very proud that two of you represent the students as well on the board. My former council calling its outside sister, Phyllis Villagran, and of course, Councilman Rick Galvan. Thank you for your service and your commitment to the education partnership. Now, we know that for years we have heard that San Antonio needs an educated workforce to compete with the larger cities. Investing in our youth has continued to be in priority in terms of policy discussions that affect our economic competitiveness. Continued investment in our students, especially at a time when state and federal institutions are not investing as much as they should be, should be and absolutely should be one of San Antonio's long-term financial planning strategies. I do hope that every solution proposed today addresses the projected cuts for the San Antonio Education Partnership. The students who are in class right now are depending on their leaders to keep their end of the deal. The superintendents clearly made that point in their letter yesterday. And Eric, although you might be the best city manager in all of the land, I do not envy you today, but I'm grateful for you trying, for you trying for our students. I've had a chance to be able to connect with some of you all as well. I was able to share some numbers of the students that will be affected. I reminded folks that in districts three to six, we have the most scholarships that will be affected. District four, the district I formerly represented, has the highest number of students, 545 students that would be affected. The second largest number is 449 students, also in the South Side in District 3. 406 students in District 6, 309 students in District 5, and the list goes on and on and on. that today we can make a difference by getting together and listening to each other's creative solutions. I've said before, I don't like pitting our children against each other. Nonprofits are all important. We shouldn't pit them against each other. But I know somewhere deep there, there should be a creative solution. And I know and I value your opinions and your important work that you do. And I know that you all will find a solution to this. I appreciate your work and wish you the best today. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Paul Rodriguez, followed by Father Drennan, and then Father Schaefer.

Mayor Jones and city council members, my name is Paul Rodriguez and I'm speaking on behalf of a partnership in our future ready. Bexar County partners over the past several weeks, many members of our community have spoken about delegate agencies and the proposed FY 2028 reduction in funding. Those concerns remain and our request remains the same to continue to consider the adoption of any framework for FY 28 during FY 27 so as to ensure community input and how to align accountability and a data infrastructure that provides transparent metrics. Today, however, I want to speak more broadly about what is at stake for San Antonio families and young people based on today's vote. We recognize that you are facing difficult choices. The city is confronting significant fiscal challenges, and by law, a balanced budget must be adopted. We understand that reality, yet even in difficult moments, our community must remain clear about what and who we are trying to protect. Across our city, families depend on a network of supports that help children succeed, keep young people engaged, create pathways to college and careers, strengthen families, and help residents navigate difficult circumstances. When we talk about reductions, it is important to remember what those actually mean. It means uncertainty for nearly 3000 students who depend on San Antonio Education Partnership scholarships to continue their college journeys. It means difficult questions about community institutions like the East Side Boys and Girls Club and whether the young people who rely on those programs will continue to have safe places to learn, grow and belong. It means fewer opportunities for families seeking stability and fewer resources available to help young people build their futures. These are not simply budget items, they are investments in our community. For decades, San Antonio has made a commitment to increasing educational completion, improving workforce outcomes, supporting youth success, and strengthening families. Those investments have helped make our community stronger, more resilient and prosperous. As you vote today, I encourage you to think not only about what can be cut, but about what must be protected and whether we can preserve the opportunities and supports that help San Antonio families thrive, especially during challenging times. Those are the impacts of the decisions before you today. Thank you for your leadership, your service and your commitment to the future of San Antonio.

Thank you. Father Drennan, followed by Father Schaffer, and then Sonia Rodriguez, please.

Mayor Jones, council members. Yes.

Mayor, we will be presenting as an organization, and I will yield my time to Father Jimmy.

Okay. You have nine minutes. Thank you. Thank you.

Brothers and sisters, thank you for this opportunity. My name is Father Dennis Schaffer. I'm pastor at Mission San Jose and a COPS Metro leader. The city of San Antonio is at a crucial point in its histories. Many issues have come together to cause a projected debt in our budget. Inflation continues to raise prices, not only in the grocery store and gas station, but also in the cost of running our schools, paying our streets, and paying for police and fire protection. The loss of federal funds eliminates support that has been relied on for years. Changes in funding through the state have also diminished money available to the city. The result is a projected debt over two years of $156 million. We commend the city manager and his staff and their efforts to propose a balanced budget, but as yet that goal is not achieved. What will we lose if there are insufficient funds? We will face cuts in our city's protection by police and firefighters. Seniors will lose services that help them in vulnerable times. All of us will be diminished by cuts to our public libraries. School children will lose support in their learning. The question we face is more than a financial one. It is a moral one. What kind of city do we want to be? Will we abandon each other in this time? Will we cut back, cut out, cut down? Will we force cuts that wound not only the most vulnerable, but indeed all of the citizens of San Antonio? Or will we join those other cities throughout the country who have invested in their people and have become prosperous by doing so? In a recent city of 250 major cities across the United States, San Antonio ranked 150th in its preparation for the future. We can do better.

I'm Father Jimmy Drennan. I'm the pastor of St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, a member of COPS Metro Alliance. And I want to begin by sharing with you that COPS Metro is made up of organizations across every council district. So our presence here is one that addresses each and every one of you. As we begin this day, we pause for a moment to celebrate the birthday of our Air Force. And we were told by the leadership here at Joint Base that the greatest asset in our Air Force is not the planes that are being flown, but the personnel that fly them. The people are what make the United States Air Force great. In the same way, the city of San Antonio is made great not by stadiums, not by buildings, not by streets, not by church buildings, but by the people, the citizens of San Antonio. And so we believe that investment in the people of San Antonio is key in moving us forward. taking us from the slot of 151st out of 250 cities in the state of Texas and moving us towards number one. It cannot be anything other than investment in our people. Job preparedness and opportunities for education become essential every way possible and so we do want to thank all of you the mayor the City Council each one of you for taking the steps in the amendments that are helping to secure the many different charitable organizations and programs that help create a prepared workforce an educated student body and a citizenry that is going to prepare us for future. We thank you for the countless hours that you have put into helping create a balanced budget. We know that the challenges are difficult. We want to commend the city manager and your staff for the great work that you have done in helping to create a proposed budget. Now, we know that If we look forward for our city, we cannot balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable, those in greatest need. We know that the budget cuts that we are looking towards as a city is, and we are seeing in our near future, if we do not increase revenues, are going to disproportionately affect the most vulnerable. And so that in mind, knowing that we commend the city leadership today and in the past for not raising property taxes over the past 33 years, but we cannot simply maintain that trajectory at the expense of our people. This is not a record that we need to keep. The record we need to keep and the record we need to create is investment in our people. Now is not the time to cut back and pull away from investment in our people. Now is the time to invest in our people and to double down on the citizens of San Antonio because that is where our future lies. And so, knowing that we cannot balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable, we are supporting COPS Metro Alliance, this modest tax increase that is being proposed by the city manager. We know that it is going to amount to about a cup of coffee once a month for the next few years. That's what the impact is going to be for the citizens of San Antonio, those who are property taxpayers. But we also know that it is not going to affect the most vulnerable. In fact, 47% of the people who pay taxes in the city of San Antonio will not see an increase. Only 53% will. So the most vulnerable will not be impacted. What we are asking you to do is we are asking you to move our city forward. Again, nobody wants to see a tax increase, but nobody wants to maintain a record year after year of not increasing taxes if it means that we are destroying the future of the city of San Antonio by balancing the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable. So let's work together as a people Let's bring all of our council districts together with our mayor in making a decision that the future of San Antonio will be in its people, in an educated workforce, a prepared workforce that will create prosperity for decades to come. Let's stop keeping a record for the sake of keeping a record and instead do what we know is most essential. Following the footsteps of our Air Force, realize that our greatest asset is our people. That's where our investment should be. We are asking you to support this modest tax increase that will not be a burden on the backs of the most vulnerable, but will move us forward. We thank you for listening to us and we ask that you move in that direction. Make that choice and vote for a balanced budget with a modest tax increase. Thank you.

Thank you. Jeanette McCart. Jeanette McCart. Followed by Judith Gerwitz and then Christopher Longoria, please. Please make your way to the center.

Good morning. My name is Johnette McCart. I came to address the San Antonio City budget. I represent 1,153 homes and approximately 4,000 residents. On their behalf, I am asking you to forego the present Convenience of increasing our property taxes to accommodate a projected deficit and current spending habits. As the president of Bronze Station West Community, I'm well aware of the increasing prices just for our existence. SAWS, CPS, groceries, gas. Our board is also looking at an assessment increase for our homeowners, which I intend to oppose, as I am opposing this tax increase. Many constituents are retired and therefore lived on a restricted income, and we commonly call it a fixed income. But we all live on a fixed income. The challenge comes when we must live within our means. Respectfully, I ask the council to reject the tax increase and to reduce it. I work only with a small budget, but the basic premise is the same. Line items can be padded, proposed, projected. Just to cushion budgets more comfortably, it is our fiduciary responsibility to question these areas and to reduce the cushion. We are not an endless bucket of wealth. As the wealthiest nation in the world, our Americans, our own Texans should not have to decide if they will buy medicine, go to the grocery store, or have gas to get to the doctor. I respectfully ask that you scrutinize the city expenditures with this question. Is this really needed? Thank you.

Thank you. Judith Gerwitz. Judith Gerwitz, followed by Christopher Longoria, and then Rhett Smith, please.

Good morning, Mayor and City Council. My name is Judy Gerwitz. I've lived in District 8 for a little over 25 years, and I recently have fled the area due to crime. I also own two rental properties in District 2. I'm asking you to really think about raising taxes when our basic services are not being delivered to the citizens. I'm very concerned about police staffing, and I want you to know that I know what it's like to live in a crime-ridden area. I grew up in housing projects in Boston, Massachusetts, and I refuse to live in a crime-ridden place at this stage of my life. And now my husband and I, our retirement is greatly impacted because we made the decision to move into an HOA with a gate and a guard for that added security. I think that the focus or the highest focus of this body should be the delivery of basic services to everyone in San Antonio. And at the same time, I think we have to look at, cutting taxes cutting some services to deliver those everyone has their pet projects and i understand that but when we raise taxes in san antonio everyone pays them property owners and renters because those expenses get passed along and i think that or i'm begging you really to think about anytime you have a tax increase that you're confronted with making a decision on please keep the least of all of us in San Antonio in the forefront of your mind because they suffer the most. No one is exempt from this property tax increase. So please think about doing that because everyone will suffer and some will suffer more than others. Thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity.

Thank you. Christopher Longoria, Rhett Smith, and Hope Garza, please.

Good morning, Mayor, council members. I'm with American Prosperity. My name is Christopher Longoria, and I live in District 10. Thank you for allowing me to speak. I'm here today to urge the council to find a different path on the proposed tax rate increase and the proposed amendment increases. Too many increases. San Antonio families are already being stretched to their absolute limits. Between high mortgage rates, rising energy bills, general cost of living, our household budgets are maxed out. We can't afford what would be the city's first tax rate hike in over 30 years. find a different path. I understand this city faces a budget deficit, but the solution to the city's budget problems should not be solved by dipping further into the pockets of local homeowners and renters. Find a different path. Before you ask taxpayers for more money, you must exhaust every internal option to trim the fat and relocate existing funds. find a different path. First, I urge you to support the proposal to shift 21 million from the under-enrolled Ready to Work program directly into the general fund. That step alone immediately closes a massive chunk of the deficit. Second, we need to find a path to tap into the idea of the mayor to cut costs across the board 1.6% from every department. 2% in 2028. And finally, look inward at City Hall. Cancel high-priced third-party consultant studies, freeze non-emergency civilian hiring, and cut administrative travel. Bexar County just approved $2.6 billion budget while keeping their property tax rate completely flat. The City of San Antonio must show the exact same fiscal discipline And please stand with your constituents to protect our wallets, reject this rate hike, and balance the budget through internal disciplines. But what is most important is to find a different path. Thank you.

Thank you. Rett Smith. Followed by Hope Garza and then Mai Ellsbury. Please make your way to the center. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor Jones and city council members. My name is Rhett Smith, and I'm a volunteer with Americans for Prosperity. I'm donating my time to Jack Finger.

Okay, Jack Finger, come on up, and we'll just, can you just add three to this now, then? Mr. Finger, is there anyone else that's giving you their time?

I don't believe so.

Okay. All right. So please. Okay. Thank you. Go ahead. Thank you.

Madam Mayor, other members of our illustrious San Antonio City Council, for the record, my name is Jack M. Finger, and though I am a member of Americans for Prosperity and all those good people mentioning good facts to you, I am going to, at this moment, represent myself and my opinions regarding what you're about to do today. First tax increase in 33 years. You know, The economy has not been robust. It's reflected in the fact that our real estate sales are down. The values are down. That means people are not paying much for our city coffers these days. So what do you do? What are you guys going to do today? You are going to kick the taxpayer while he is down. I don't say those words lightly, because that's exactly what you're going to do, a 4%, 3.9, 4% increase in our tax rates. You couldn't find any place to cut these crazy services that you offer here in town? The Cultural Arts Department, which I call a playground, you kept the positions going. The Climate Change Department, it's being debunked all the time, yet you still keep that going. The one thing that really caught my eye though, the Reproductive Justice Fund. Excuse me, isn't that code word for abortion services? And abortion is outlawed in this state? Right? I mean, what gives here? Are we gonna be funding abortion travel, abortion pills? I mean, what's going on here? Inquiring minds would like to know, you know? What I guess, what really is interesting is that you're gonna raise our fees Yeah, the garbage fee. We as residents, we as rate payers, we diligently recycle our garbage just for the sake of our environment. For the sake of our city, we do that. And how do you reward us for that? You raise our fees. Show that, Mr. Audiovisual Man. Let's see, blow it up a little bit so we can see what's going on there. The garbage fees are gonna increase by 5% for one cart, 5% increase for another cart, and 3% for one of the larger carts there. Yeah, that's what you're going to do. You think so little of us, the people who try to recycle our items in the garbage disposal, This is what you do to us. You can return the camera now. What else are you going to do? Well, if you wanna do a garage sale, you obtain a permit for that. What are you gonna do? How are you going to reward us for trying to either punish us? 25% increase from $16 per permit to $20 per permit there. Yeah, 25% increase. For those of you who won't, you can return the camera now. Those of us who want to maybe make a few extra bucks with a garage sale, you're taking away all the profit we would have made. Okay, let's see. Yes, here's another interesting one. Another fee you're going to raise. And the parking service charge for the events downtown from $15 to $30 at times there. 100% increase. 100% increase, Mr. McKee-Rodriguez. Yes. And finally, another thing that caught my eye, fireworks. We want to do it right and crack off our fireworks at the proper time with the proper permit. What is that going to cost? A 15% increase from $100 to $500 to $115 to $575. See, these are things that are... And these are just numerous, one of many numerous fees that you're going to raise, but these are some of the ones that affect us personally. We don't like that. We don't like the fact that you couldn't find anywhere else to cut. And so what do you do? You kick us when we're down. I've come by before with an interesting slogan that the military once used, and it reflects exactly what you're doing. The beatings shall continue until morale improves. Yeah, the beatings shall continue. Yeah, pay up to taxpayers. Your city just absolutely needs the money. I would like to say it's actually the hogs at the trough that need the money, the services, the so-called things that they want from us, the cultural arts department, the climate change department, the cops metro saying that we haven't paid enough as taxpayers, huh? I'm really ashamed. I'm really ashamed of such persons when they say these things. Please get some common sense before this session is over and try to remedy a few things before we all have to suffer again. Thank you.

Hope Garza. Followed by May Ellsbury and then Manny Garcia, please.

Greetings. Greetings to everyone, beloved Mayor Jones and council members, and everyone within the reach of my voice. My name is Hope Garza. As a volunteer with Americans for Prosperity, I come to present to you a different perspective regarding the budget that you have so arduously been working on. I will not take up your time with stats and percentages, but seek to reach deep down to the core of your humanity. I will present you with thoughts and cause you to ponder and make your decision according to your conscience. Consider Proverbs 13, 22. A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. A couple in their golden years, late 70s, currently fosters children to make money to maintain and not lose their home. Veterans are hurting and struggling to maintain their property, home, health and emotional well-being. A retired couple educators were paying $7,000 a year in property taxes. They've sold their house now. A couple in their late 50s is paying $6,000 in property taxes. Most people cannot even establish a three-month emergency fund to maintain themselves should they encounter hardships such as illness, loss of job, or a crippling accident. Consider these tax hikes exacerbate the state of inflation on everything else needed to survive. Purchase of vehicles and everything else that comes with maintenance and insurance, fuel and repairs. Consider that in hiking taxes, it will eventually affect you. your children, your grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and their future in owning a home or any kind of property. It will affect you when you become elderly. It is affecting the elderly now. the renters, businesses who have to pass down the cost to survive. There cannot be an inheritance if this trend continues. The financial impact will be devastating for you and everyone else and all your generations to come, including ours. No one is exempt. Do we run our household budgets the same way where we keep spending without the thought of future repercussions? Must this mentality continue with the intentional premeditated thought that you can reach into everyone else's pockets to fill the gap? Consider only the essential needs and consider a no new revenue rate. Trim from every department. Stop the bleed. Spend responsibly on essential needs to ensure the security and safety of this, our grand city. Thank you for your attention, reflection, and consideration of our thoughts. And I trust that God will lead you in making the right decision for you, your future generations and ours, and our current struggling San Antonians. Thank you for your service and all the work that you do.

Thank you. Maya Ellsbury. Maya or May Ellsbury. Okay. Followed by Manny Garcia and then John Melendez, please.

Good morning, Mayor Jones, council members, and civic leaders. My name is Maya Ellsbury. My name is Mai Elsberry, agent representing residents in 10 city council districts, volunteering with Americans for Prosperity, and today respectfully requesting you to reject property tax increase. This would be a greatest tax increase without asking voters. Staff already has another increase model for next year. This is not one-time correction. This is a habit. For some households, that is groceries. For others, it is the difference between keeping up and falling behind. On top of higher fees for carts, parking, and city services already in the same budget. A tax that looks small on a slide is not small when paychecks are not growing with City Hall. Look at the city's own numbers. Expenses would grow 4.1%. A city whose spending grew faster than the tax base now wants homeowners to close the gap. That is a mismanagement problem. not a mandate to raise tax. Cut first. Freeze non-essential hiring harder. Stop treating capacity under state law as a reason to take it. Public safety matters. Do not confuse protecting core services, police and fire, with protecting every other line item. fee waiver, and program that survived easier years. Texas families do not get to raise their own revenue cap when costs go up. They cut. City Hall should do the same. Cut waste first, no tax hike. Thank you for this time to speak and for your consideration. Thank you.

Manny Garcia, followed by John Melendez, and then Alanthius Thompson, please.

Good morning, Madam Mayor, council members. My name is Manny Garcia. I am not originally from San Antonio, but I lived here most of my life. My parents were actually from Mexico, so they're migrants. They both passed away and moved on to a I guess a better world in heaven, hopefully, and I hope to make it there one day myself. As I said, I'm not originally from San Antonio, but I lived here most of my life. I went to high school at Holmes High School. District 6, sir, Councilman Gallivan, we met when you won, sir. I appreciate you. I told you that I'm very actively involved, which is why I'm here. I'm here. A lot of you folks on the council are actual friends of mine as well. I just want to say that please consider when voting for the tax increase because I think I speak not just for the older folks like myself, but the younger folks, people that are trying to buy a house, like my son and his wife who are living with me because they can't afford to buy a home. They're gonna be staying with me and I'm gonna be retiring soon. I hope that I'm able to be okay with my retirement fund. I retired from the Navy Reserves and I could tell you there's nothing more than my heart for this country when they opened their arms to my family when they moved here. So my parents moved to, like I said, to Illinois and I was born there and then they got smart and they moved to Texas. So I'm here in San Antonio, and I plan to live here for the remaining time of my life, and I hope that my kids and my grandkids eventually would also stay here. And for that is the reason why I hope that we keep San Antonio affordable. When it comes down to affordability, this city prizes itself in that, in being affordable. Well, an affordable city. It's a beautiful city, wonderful culture, and I think those of us that are getting older, we want to be able to still be able to afford our homes, and we want our kids to be able to afford their own homes so we can get a little peace of mind. With that, I humbly ask that you please... Voter against the property tax. With that, I say thank you for your time, ma'am, sir. God bless you all.

Thank you. John Melendez, followed by Alantheus Thompson, and then Rodney Kidd, please.

good morning good morning mayor and council my name is John Melendez and I'm the grassroots engagement director for Americans for prosperity here in San Antonio first thank you to the mayor and council for giving residents the opportunity to come before you and speak about the issues affecting our community At Americans for Prosperity, we work across Texas to connect people with public policy and empower them to make their voices heard. More recently, we focused on local government because we believe we have a responsibility to our neighbors to make San Antonio more affordable and ensure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely. I'm here not only as an advocate, But as a husband, a dad, a veteran, and a taxpayer, my family pays the bills, same bills as everybody else. Like many families in San Antonio, we feel the pressure. Groceries cost more. Utilities and water bills keep going up. Insurance is more expensive. When the costs add up, Every dollar matters That's why I believe this council can help working families by lowering their property tax burden and The money we're talking about isn't something abstract. It's money that could stay in a family's bank account, buy school supplies, build savings, or just provide a little bit of breathing room. So today I'm asking you to vote against a property tax rate increase. I understand the city has responsibilities and difficult decisions to make. but before asking taxpayers for more i believe the city should first look at where it can reduce spending and prioritize what matters most i encourage this council to consider adopting a no new revenue tax rate because at the end of the day this isn't just about a tax rate it's about families keeping more of what they work so hard to earn and i just want to say as well that this property tax rate increase not only affects homeowners, but it impacts renters because when their landlords property taxes go up, their rent's going to go up. So it's going to impact homeowners. It's going to impact renters. It's going to impact business owners. It's going to impact those people who can afford these rate increases the least. And, you know, maybe a 4% Tax rate increase seems modest to some, but when you have a $4 billion budget and we're increasing that by 4%, that's not modest to people who are on fixed income. I just urge you to consider that as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Alantheus Thompson? Alantheus Thompson? Rodney Kidd, please. Rodney Kidd, followed by Linda Thomas, and then Christian Ramirez.

Thanks a lot, council and city manager. Appreciate it. So I'm here on my own accord. My name is Rodney Kidd. And what I want to discuss today is a little bit about closing the budget without cutting the brand of San Antonio. I'm going to embrace whatever you all decide and go with and support you. And you're going to have my full, full support protecting the brand of San Antonio, the arts, culture, history, tourism, Protect the arts, the organizations, the cultural institutions, historic assets, festivals, dream week, music, film, signature events. Treat them as economic infrastructure that attracts visitors, conventions, investment, talent, and spending, not simply as discretionary expenses. Make government smarter before cutting community investment. Review citywide operations for duplication, redundant contracts, outdated processes, and procurement inefficiencies. Use data, technology, and collaboration across public works transportation, police, fire, and other departments to reduce risk, mitigate accidents, improve response, prevent costly emergencies, and streamline operations without weakening public safety. One of the quick examples I'll give is I see the same accident at Huebner and Fredericksburg. I see the accident in the same spot at least three or four times a week. We really need to work to figure those things out. That's a public safety expense. I feel it's a big part of 65% of our budget. We need to work on those things. I feel we need to grow revenue through industry and workforce, align ready to work to other workforce programs with advanced manufacturing, aerospace, cybersecurity, logistics, healthcare, construction, film, digital media, build a robust talent pipeline so San Antonio can attract employers while helping residents move into higher paying careers. I remember when I first came here from Austin, the big complaint was we had to bring everybody here, bring everybody here. Well, we don't have a workforce. So I think we tried to address that with Ready to Work, and I think there's progress that's been made. So I'd like to see those connect with the other associations that put money and resources in DC and here to connect to help grow that. I'd like to build San Antonio as a business, logistics, and creative hub. Expand LaunchSA. If you don't know what's LaunchSA, it helps businesses incubator system here powered with Geekdom. Expand LaunchSA, increase capacity, for entrepreneurs, open city opportunities to more local and emerging vendors, help businesses franchise and export. That brings money in from outside of here. Develop a film and livestream production hub and leverage San Antonio's local business between Mexico, Austin, major Texas markets. Yep, thank you, sir.

Yep, thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Linda Thomas. Linda Thomas. Christian Ramirez. Christian Ramirez. Kathleen Vail. Followed by Debbie Benke and then Lloyd Welty, please.

Good morning, Mayor and Council. Kathy Vail, I'm a proud D1 homeowner. I'm here to suggest the word for today is equity. San Antonio deserves a budget that meets the needs of our entire community, placing equity at its center. When facing this jarring deficit, the answer cannot only be cuts that may look fair on paper but fail in practice. Equal cuts rarely produce equitable outcomes. We have neighborhoods still today suffering decades of intentional marginalization, redlining, racism, segregation, and disinvestment. Do not make them withstand the worst of reduced city services because percentage cuts are easy in the final hours. Decades of inequity cannot be corrected by treating every single neighborhood as if it started from the same place. The people are the heart, soul and fabric of this city. Seniors, working families, children, youth, unhoused neighbors, professionals, small businesses, and the organizations holding together today what remains of our tattered social safety net. Acknowledge who has historically received the least. Equity begins where the greatest needs are. Residents are confused by deep city service cuts while an expensive downtown sports stadium moves forward. That is how a tale of two cities deepens. One San Antonio is told, accept fewer services and opportunities because there's just not enough money for your basic needs. Meanwhile, another San Antonio, moves forward with a major downtown sports investment with precious property taxes buying the downtown land. How do these dissimilar priorities fit together today? A city cannot claim to prioritize equity while simultaneously cutting essential services and also advancing a high-profile downtown project. Make the responsible cuts, reduce waste and uncertainty, demand accountability, but please do not ask residents to deeply sacrifice while public resources continue flowing towards projects that primarily help downtown interests. Remember your decisions today do not arrive in a vacuum. San Antonio households are bracing for potential property tax increases from five local ISDs. The Alamo College District, San Antonio River Authority, a 7.7% via fare increase, plus upcoming saws and CPS rate increases. We want a well-functioning council and staff working together to inspire and equity solve problems. Please continue working together to make the hard calls. Good luck to each of you and thank you for your service.

Thank you. Debbie Benke. Lloyd Welty. followed by Dan Snyder, and then our final speaker, Clemente Sanchez.

Good morning, Mayor and City Council. I'm here about the proposed increase on automotive recycling. Recyclers here in the city of San Antonio, we provided valuable resource for the city of San Antonio. Pick and Pull Incorporated is the only one in the last 18 years to put in an RFP for code compliance abatement. We went through a 42.25% increase for the 2026 license when we did the code rewrite in 2025. That was voted in to effect in May of 2025 by the city council. Now we're proposed to have a 400% increase for 2027 and onward. Imagine if your CPS bill, all of a sudden CPS told you you were gonna have a 400% increase because the city or CPS forgot to raise your rates since 2008. So now your average $200 electric bill goes to $1,000 a month. That's what you're asking us to do. We provide a valuable resource by keeping junk cars from being littered around the streets in the suburbs of San Antonio. Along with the economy and fuel increases, which is a trickle-down effect to all cost of goods, to include HEB, your groceries, everything you do. Also, these same inspectors inspect tire shops, donation containers, and other businesses, but there is no proposed increase in their license fees. The code rewrite in 2025 identified more inspectors were needed. It took the city manager over seven years to realize that the city was falling short on its budget. So here all of a sudden, you're proposing a 400% increase on businesses. One business in particular, out of that 33-page document of the proposed increases, I believe we are the only business that faces a 400% increase in our license fees. If you run us out of town, which it appears is trying to happen, you're going to see your streets abandoned with cars. It's going to look like the apocalypse. It's going to look like California looked, LA looked when they went through the riots. I highly oppose this 400% increase. I understand if we need to do an increase, you need to do it when we do the code rewrites and it needs to be a balanced increase through the years, not all of a sudden a 400% increase. Think about your CPS bill. Would you be happy with it going from $200 a month on average to $1,000 a month? Could you afford that?

Dan Schneider and then Clemente Sanchez, please.

Good morning, Mayor and City Council members. First off, I'd like to applaud you for being legally responsible and having to balance your budget. That is fantastic when we compare that to our national budget, which we all know is out of control. My name is Dan Snyder, and I'm the owner of San Antonio Ranch Apart and Roosevelt Ranch Apart, both automotive recycling facilities right here in San Antonio. I'm here today about the proposed increase in our license fee from $1,000 a year to $5,000 a year. As Lloyd mentioned, that's a 400% increase in single year, and I'm asking you to reconsider that. I understand the city of San Antonio needs to cover inspection and administrative costs, and I don't dispute that oversight matters. But I want you to understand what this industry actually does for San Antonio before you finalize that number. Every year, my business removes between 10 and 15,000 end-of-life vehicles off the streets and out of the driveways of San Antonio, cars that would otherwise sit abandoned, leak fluids, or become eyesores. We process them safely, responsibly, and in full compliance with environmental regulations. Nationally, the automotive recycling industry recycles more tonnage than any other recycling sector on earth, more than paper, more than plastic, more than glass combined. Millions of tons of steel, aluminum, and other materials are recovered and reused instead of mined or manufactured from scratch. That's not a talking point. That's a measurable environmental impact, and it's happening right here in your city. There's a human side to this too. Thousands of San Antonio families, many of them working with paychecks that don't stretch as far as they used to, rely on recycled auto parts to keep their cars running. A used alternator or recycled starter isn't a luxury for these customers. It's the difference between them getting to work on time or not getting to work at all. There are also dozens of employees that work for our facilities. Those employees have families that they are supporting. Those employees need those jobs. A 400% increase doesn't just affect business owners. Costs like this must get passed down the line in higher part prices, lower wages, and in fewer vehicles that we can afford to process. These higher fees tighten our margins, and that makes it harder to keep our doors open. When auto recyclers close, those vehicles don't just disappear. They become the city's problem. More abandoned vehicles, illegal dumping more environmental cleanup all on the city's dime I'm not asking that you eliminate the registration fee or ignore the city's costs what I am asking for three things number one look at the budget and make a promise to cut spending as much as you are raising fees number two Be sure that all increased fees are spread evenly and fairly amongst all businesses of the city.

Sir, thank you. You can submit the rest of your comments for the record.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you. Appreciate it.

Our final speaker is Clemente Sanchez.

Good morning honorable mayor and members of city council. My name is Clemente Sanchez and I stand here today on behalf of the San Antonio apartment association representing our member housing providers and thousands of residents who call San Antonio home. association has always sought a seat at the table when decisions are made that directly impact our industry and the people we serve not always expect an agreement but access to the information supporting those changes and a meaningful opportunity to participate in the decision-making process we met with city staff and requested the history budget analysis and data supporting the proposed increase in the proactive apartment inspections program fee from 100 to 200 dollars per unit so we could responsibly evaluate its impact instead we were told that such information could only be obtained through a formal open records request which we promptly submitted we were later informed that the response was still being coordinated and that further clarification was needed restarting the response period. We have been met with delays and bureaucratic obstacles when we were promised transparency and fairness. One of the priorities of our community, this council, and our industry is affordable housing. Yet affordable rental housing providers are left in the cold when it comes to transparency. We as housing stakeholders sought to engage constructively. We believe city staff when they promised they would not delay or open record requests for data. Other affected professional industries in our community have been given opportunities during this budget process to work with the city regarding proposed fee increases and to participate in discussions about their structure and implementation without the requirement that they file open records requests. City staff willingly open their books to other industries without hesitation. We support that kind of engagement and believe the rental industry deserves the same opportunity and transparency. This is not just a procedural oversight. It is a fundamental failure of the transparent and inclusive process that our city claims to uphold. Other industries have been given the chance to engage with the city on similar fee increases, to ask questions, and to help shape the policies that affect them. The apartment industry and our residents, your constituents, deserve nothing less. We are not asking you to decide today that the proposed $200 fee is unjustified. We have not been provided the information needed to evaluate the proposal or to discuss whether structure and implementation best accomplish the program's objectives. We are not asking to be treated differently, only to be treated consistently and fairly. Thank you for your attention and your commitment to a transparent, inclusive process that is open, fair, and worthy of San Antonio. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Thank you to everybody that took the time to share your thoughts with us this morning. Councilmember Villagran is recognized to make a motion for approval of item five.

I move to approve the balance of the budget as presented today by the city manager, save and accept funding for Guardian House.

It's moved and seconded to approve the balance of the budget as presented today by the city manager save and accept funding for Guardian House We'll move on to council discussion. I remind my colleagues. This is on items 5 through 10 However, we'll vote on those individually, but this will be the one just the council discussion round To rather my you get it. Okay, so please sign in if you'd like to speak Item 5 Okay. Councilman McKee-Rodriguez, please.

I understand there are some council members who wish to make amendments. I can wait until that is all done.

Okay. Are there colleagues that would like to make amendments? Well, let me just, okay, so. Are there colleagues that would like to make amendments at this point? Okay. Councilman McKee-Rodriguez, please. Okay. Councilman Villagran, please.

Thank you, Mayor. This has been a difficult budget process. Today marks the culmination of months of hard work by City Council, the City Budget Office, and all city departments that helped shape today's $4.4 billion budget that protects our core services, invests in our neighborhoods, and reflects the collective priorities of my district. I want to start by thanking our city manager, Eric Walsh, deputy manager Maria Villa Gomez, Justina Tate, the entire finance department, especially Ben and Troy, and the many city departments who worked behind the scenes throughout this process that are here this morning. If you are here from the finance department or you are here as a director, can you please stand up, city of San Antonio employees? Please stand up for a round of applause. Justina, stand up. I want to thank you. Thank you. They worked very hard all summer. I also want to recognize Alana Reed and the Essay Speak Up budget team for their work engaging residents to get the feedback at the budget town halls. It was a long process. I also want to take the time to recognize my entire staff, Sol Valdez, Melanie Rodriguez, Maribel Saldeira, Chris Villa, Ana Galindo, Ari Moreno-Soto, Debbie Gunn, Eddie Padilla, and my executive assistant Veronica Boyle. Their work often happens behind the scenes with setting my calendar, finding constituents' calls, and y'all have made it busy with calls this season and attending neighborhood associations. And to Enrique Trevino and my chief of staff, Ruben Lizalde, your early mornings and late nights also did not go unnoticed. This budget is a reflection of your dedication as it is mine. Thank you to you both. Passing a balanced budget is one of the most important responsibilities we have as city council. Today's adoption of a 4.4 billion balanced budget represents months of collaboration, tough decision-making, and a shared commitment to our residents. We are here today because we knew, I knew, that after the pandemic and the ARPA dollars ran out, we would be here facing a deficit. In my wildest imagination, I did not imagine that the deficit would be this severe. But that was because I did not imagine the inflation that would come at the expense of wars, tariffs, and mishandling from our federal government. But here we are today, trying to balance a budget, trying to find revenue. The objective of today is to make sure that we put something forward that we can work for. And I appreciate those of you who came out today. It has been tough conversations. And we have gone back and forth about property taxes. But I have made it clear, this is our time and our opportunity. 3.5% is our limit. The governor has made it clear he wants to continue to limit locals' control and ability to raise property taxes. So we have to take the moment now while we can and while it is imperative and necessary for the city of San Antonio to build their revenue. Jobs will come. Industries will come. But in this time, we do need to maintain our services and maintain what we provide for the least of our community here. We are going to talk about stats. We're going to talk about things like what we could do, where we can cut. The problem is we have an opportunity. The city manager and his team has brought forth the budget and the amendments that we talked about, and this is what we should move forward with today. I want to thank COPS Metro for coming out, the chambers for sending their letter, Centro SA ready to work. We need to move forward at this time. We need to move forward with what was presented today this morning. which includes a property tax increase. I want to thank my nonprofits, who I felt like were in a tornado and a whirlwind. And you are here today, and you've been stalwart. And you know, because we have met and had conversations throughout this process, that what is past today Without amendments, we are still going to continue to work forward and begin that conversation in October of what does the next budget look like. To the industries that came this morning that I have not heard from, the apartment association, the metal recyclers, You have a council up here that is ready to look at the fees in coming years. But right now, we have to move forward with what the city manager has put forward with us because it makes sense, because everything is increasing. The talk of the city shouldn't raise taxes because other entities are going to raise taxes, everyone looks to the city. The college district is the school district, the county. They all look to the city to lead. And today is our opportunity to lead. So I ask my council colleagues to support the budget as it is stated here, not to put forward any amendments. And my council colleague already asked you to put forward the amendments. to be transparent to let your yes for a balanced budget be a yes for the amendments six through ten as we go through the ordinance because we have work to do and this is what we're mandated to do by the state but what we are caught what we need to do after today in the last two weeks of September and the month of October is to get out into the community and to meet and to address the needs that we know are going to be tight and short because of the current financial conditions we're in. The jobs will come. Economic development is the way out. But we have to begin to talk to each other. And I want to thank all of those who reached out to me through this process, because y'all know I spent my summer in San Antonio just like the city manager and staff did, because I wasn't going on vacation if y'all weren't going on vacation. And I was able to hear from y'all, and we've got here today. Is it ideal? It's not ideal, but I never thought it would be. So I ask for my council to support this today. I look forward to passing this budget, ratifying, setting all the goals that we need to, and beginning work starting in October, like somebody asked, but with conversations between council members, city staff, and the organizations. Thank you.

Thank you. Let me see if Councilman McKee-Rodriguez would like to speak.

Sure. Let's start off with some happy notes. So I want to start off by sharing that this week I became the second longest serving council member in District 2's history. It is an honor and I'm humbled on days like today that my constituents have trusted me to carry the torch that was passed on by my predecessors. I am led only by our first council member, former councilman Joe Webb, who served seven terms, 14 years on city council, more than any other city elected official. This Saturday is actually Joe Web Day, and I'd love to invite you all to Pittman Sullivan Park this Saturday from noon to 6 PM to celebrate. This has been a tumultuous budget season to say the least. What we have before us is a document worth billions of dollars that absolutely none of us are happy with. We've disagreed about the value of programs many of our constituents rely on. We've disagreed about what cuts should be considered. We've disagreed about alternative funding sources such as Ready to Work, Hot Tax, or TERS. We've disagreed about what the impacts of a property tax increase will be for each of our residents. And even today, we disagree on many components of this final budget. Still, we appreciate the work of city staff to get us here today. And we understand that it has been scary to watch us publicly debate your future here. And I hope you know that we do not take for granted the role that you play in our constituents lives and the ways in which you contribute to our city. You are not fat to be trimmed, but muscles being torn. Not a single one of you deserves to be out of a job, and I know that Eric and the team took very seriously their role in balancing this budget with minimal disruption to your day-to-day. Similarly, many of the programs and services that you provide are those that my constituents rely on the most. We need our senior centers, our community centers, libraries, and parks, and we rely on the programming they provide because we haven't seen the private investment and affordable family-friendly activities that exist elsewhere. Without these facilities and employees, my constituents would not have after school programming because we are seeing cuts to public education across the city. They wouldn't have readily available internet access because there is still a great digital divide. They wouldn't have fitness classes because gym memberships are sometimes inaccessible. We also have people who are doing work that we can't see, but whose impact will be felt for generations because they are increasing food access. They're helping our communities address the urban heat island effect and helping our communities become resilient and sustainable. They're working to prevent crime by addressing it at the root, providing emergency assistance to families in crisis, and empowering residents with tools and resources to thrive. They're repainting our pavement markings and filling sidewalk gaps. They're assessing traffic safety and guiding the investments that we're making to achieve safer, more equitable infrastructure. When I'm out knocking doors in my district or at neighborhood meetings or hosting events, I constantly hear from my constituents that they want more and stronger services, not less. So this year when we were faced with reduced revenues, my constituents, many of those who are most needy in our city, who are most vulnerable, said, no, I don't want a tax increase, but if it's going to ensure that my neighbors don't lose their services, I understand. When they asked how this tax increase would impact seniors, they were relieved to know that their taxes are frozen and won't be impacted by any increase. No one wants to see a tax increase, but we have to evaluate the impact of both scenarios. If we implement a tax rate increase, the majority of our revenues will come from the largest businesses and corporations, the people who own and maintain larger and multiple properties, the people who have larger homes. If we implement any further cuts, the numbers and participation levels presented show that the impacts will fall in districts one through five, some of the most impoverished in our community. That is the difficult decision that my constituents asked me to make, and though I know everyone will not be happy with that decision, I want you all to know that none of us here are, myself included. My team member, Jolene Garcia, often shares quotes that help us reflect on the challenges before us, and yesterday she shared a quote from Astra Taylor. You are not in debt because you live beyond your means, but because you are denied the means to live. And right now, we are blaming the services that our most vulnerable residents need for our deficit. But the reality is that by cutting these programs, we'd be furthering economic inequity and making it harder for those who rely on these services to live and to get by. And though we continue to disagree on this document today, I believe that it is in our best interest to move forward. In the coming months, we are going to be finalizing a contract with the Spurs and developing a fuller picture of Project Marvel, hopefully more greatly informed by the will of our residents. We owe it to our residents to open our minds and hearts to one another. and to be more willing to hear one another's ideas, even if at first they are not appealing. We need to be willing to discuss other revenue streams, develop a more strategic master plan for economic development, and we need to be ready to consider a more equitable procedure for cuts over the coming year. It is not over just because we pass a two-year balanced budget. We have a projected deficit over the next five years and beyond, and we owe it to each other, to our constituents and to future councils to adopt a comprehensive approach. We also owe it to each other to be more respectful of one another. We are each duly elected to represent more than 150,000 residents, and we share those constituents with our mayor, who was also elected by them. We have to respect that our approaches may look different, but they are informed by the interactions that we have on a daily basis. We have to come here every day in good faith. So after today, I look forward to more compromise. I look forward to some 6-5 votes. I look forward to some 8-3 votes, some 10-1 votes. And I look forward to some unanimous votes, hopefully a lot more of those. And that's just how it is sometimes. But ultimately, I look forward to a fresh start if you all will join me there. Thank you to everyone who has attended a budget town hall, a council meeting, public comment, and today's meeting for sharing your voice with us. More than ever, we contemplated every word that you said to make today's decision. And I also want to thank city employees who worked tirelessly to meet our ever-changing requests, to meet the needs of our constituents. And thank you to my team in the back, shout out to the green folk, to meet the needs of our constituents. Thank you, my team, who provides so much support throughout this season and year-round to me. I am able to focus on these issues and these challenges before us while I'm up here because you are at the field offices, two field offices, handling the day-to-day, responding to calls, and helping solve these problems every single day. And so I don't take you for granted. I appreciate you so, so much. And I love each and every one of y'all. Lastly, thank you to the District 2 residents who continue to place their trust in me, to always have your best interests in mind. I hope I have demonstrated the creative thinking and problem solving you believed I could when you elected me. This is a hard decision today, but I want you to know that we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that you get the best services and investments possible. I did offer the opportunity to hear any amendments. And so now that I've said where I'm going to be on the budget, I will not be supporting any amendments today. Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Alderete-Gavito, please. Thank you. Before I get started on my comments on the budget, I was going to do something a little bit different. I've been seeing stories about how council's fractured, and I want to show a different side of what's going on with my colleagues and I, and that is that we are unified. Whether we like it or not, we need each other. We need each other to push things through for our residents. And again, as Councilman McKee-Rodriguez noted, we were all elected. We all have the residents at the forefront. There are so many, I was talking to Councilman Castillo earlier. this morning, there are so many good things still happening and financial strain is a stressful process. So I think the back and forth that y'all have been seeing, I mean, it's actually just part of the process. So I don't think that there's anything uh necessarily wrong i mean healthy debate is is is a good thing especially with these big decisions that were that we're making and also you know i think about what's not being reported and us all sitting in the back eating tacos together or fighting to hold jalen's new puppy you know like there are there are a lot of warm moments going on between us so um i'm actually going to ask a favor uh i'd I'm going to ask the budget team to come in and take a quick picture with my colleagues and I. We don't all actually have a fun picture together. This is not a formal picture. This is just a fun picture. You have done so much great work, and I just want us to show a different side of what's going on here. So we could take a quick picture real quick. We can pause the clock, too. it's just it's fun it's fun

Should we sing kumbaya?

Ah, yes, yes, yes. That is well played.

Okay, good?

Okay, so now now on to back to the serious stuff and it sounds like there's going to be a lot more fun amendments going on today. So once again, I just wanted to add some lightheartedness because there there is so much work that the budget team has done. So Thank you again to Eric and Maria and Justina and Freddie and Troy and Ben and every single person on y'all's team who has done so much work to get us to this point. I also want to shout out my amazing team, all in blue, all back there, yay! They've done such amazing work as well. Like Councilman McKee-Rodriguez was saying, listening to our residents' feedback, listening to those Speak up sessions shout out to our CNE team for that You know that we we do know that this budget year has been especially challenging and I'm very grateful to the hours away from your families that y'all have spent to to get us to this point and so while I won't be supporting a tax increase today and Therefore cannot support our budget. I don't want that to to be equated with me as doubting y'all's expertise. So whether, cause for me, whether we increase taxes today or make deep, deep cuts, it's going to hurt. Something's going to, something's going to give and it is going to hurt. Um, but y'all, the residents elected us to make these tough decisions. And so that's what we have to do today. Uh, for me, uh, what I keep at my forefront is my boss who are the residents. And so the lesser of the two evils is to avoid a tax increase. Placed on them. We know that residents are already tightening their belts with no relief in sight And so to me it's it's hard to explain to our residents that Council couldn't do the same You know one of the things that I looked at was if we just trimmed 1.6 percent more of our general fund this year we could have avoided placing that burden on our residents and so We're so close. We were so close to being able to avoid that burden on our residents. But I respect the will of my colleagues who may agree or disagree. I think we all have our opinions on that. So as I said, I will be voting no on today's budget because I do not agree with placing more stress, financial stress on our residents in such a difficult time. regardless of that I'm proud of the work our city staff has done as a body to again to get us to this point today we may not all agree on the methods to balance the budget and I do believe every every single one of my colleagues on the dais is here with the best intent and their residents in mind at the forefront so I'm part to be proud of this I'm proud to be part of this council and this democratic process. I look forward to the year ahead, and I'm holding out hope for a better future and moving us forward together. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Galvan, please.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you to all the staff, from every single person who does the frontline work, to the folks who do the budget, to the folks who do the supervising, and every single person in between. I want to thank my team and each of my colleagues for all the hard work on this budget. We knew this was going to be difficult since last year and even a little bit before when we looked at what we're looking at the horizon with our five-year forecast. And despite all the arguments had here, I know that each of us has put in a lot of effort to come to the best conclusion possible to address this budget gap before us. I'm grateful for the city staff providing us all the information possible every single night for each of us to review and share to our residents the impacts of reducing services, the impacts of raising revenue, and what pots of money could be used on various services. Since 1992, our city has grown in population nearly 2% every single year, adding over 400,000 people to our community in that timeframe, faster than any other time in our entire city's history. That's led to some of the largest growth levels in our city, but also the largest property value growth levels as well, meaning a couple of things. Property tax revenues soared naturally for our city, our county, our state, public entities across the board without any kind of tax increases. Housing costs rose for our residents as well, and increasing population demanded focus on key public issues, infrastructure needs, public safety needs, quality of life needs, education needs, and even taking on the roots of poverty. At the same time, the state kept local property tax growth rates, artificially holding back revenue from our localities. Both the city and the state have enabled homesteads to forego hundreds of millions of tax dollars to localities. And Texas forbids different levels of taxation based on income or wealth, meaning the poorest person in our community pays the same level of taxes as our wealthiest. Residents have asked me about these things. Over this timeframe, we talked about what's gonna happen next in our budget, and asked how come other cities in the country are facing similar budget issues, are able to avoid major cuts or tax increases. And the answer is simply that over the past 30 years, as our city has grown faster than ever before, our state's attitude towards public service has shifted. Instead of supporting local entities and delivering quality services to our residents with our state tax dollars, our state would rather disinvest from our residents, force cities between a rock and a hard place at the local level. The same is true for our ISDs as well. All of this has led us to this moment, where our property tax and sales tax revenue growth has slowed just as we're making progress on addressing key issues in our community. All the while, our state sits on $27 billion of our state tax dollars in a rainy day fund. That's enough to completely cover the deficits of all major cities in Texas and all major ISDs together and still have $26 billion left, the cap, the maximum that a rainy day fund can have. But our state would rather let us sit in this moment right now where we have to choose between our public institutions either pulling back on delivering the current levels of service or finding ways to generate enough revenue to continue delivering quality services for the sixth largest city in America. I appreciate all my colleagues who have looked at cutting inefficiencies and non-essential services beyond what city staff have recommended. Some of those cuts are moves of funds I've supported. But ultimately, what we've seen here is that despite the size of our local budget, any further cuts beyond what has been proposed by city staff would directly impact our residents. We saw library hours and programs, parks, youth and adult programs, pavement markings, senior centers, code enforcement teams, animal care services, and even police and fire budgets on the chopping block. And with all that, this current budget before us will be making nearly $90 million in cuts to our budget over the next two years. We will be using reserves to close gaps. We are cutting dozens of positions and freezing hiring. And, and still, but only with an increase in revenues, we will strengthen our police, fire, animal care service budgets, and we will maintain funding for infrastructure, libraries, parks, health, education, and even for the Darner Senior Center in the Edgewood community. For that reason, I will be supporting the budget today. I want to thank all the District 6 residents who have contacted our office, participated in our budget survey, and joined us at our budget town hall, and made clear in each of those participations that they understand the importance of maintaining city services, hopefully also improving them as well, and I believe we will be, and understanding the cost to do just that too. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Councilmember Ivalice Mesa-Gonzalez.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. I want to start off by thanking city staff for the work that they've done over the last five months to develop this budget to answer questions and provide the information to get us here today. I see a lot of the. baby accountants here. This is usually where Eric tells you that you will be him one day. I also want to, if we can remember back in May during our goal setting session, I want to recognize the work that our PFM did. I thought it was really a helpful framework. I thought that was a valuable framework to categorize that budget with mandated priority and other services. And I think it's a tool that we can use for greater transparency and stronger decision making. When we began this budget process back in May, we began with a clear mandate to protect the city services residents care most about. These included police, fire, streets, homeless services and housing. I'm incredibly grateful to all the residents from District 8 and across our city who made their voices heard, whether at our budget town halls, public comments, here today, through letters, petition, phone calls, emails, and more. And at the end of the day, this budget belongs to you. I believe that today we do have a budget that meets our residents' needs in a meaningful way. It's not the budget that all of us are the happiest with, but I do believe it does meet our residents' needs in the most meaningful way. And I want to highlight some of those needs that reflect District 8 residents' priorities. including maintaining support for our police and fire services while adding 49 new police officer positions to the budget. We're increasing the budget for infrastructure maintenance, making sure that our resident streets, sidewalks, drainage, and traffic systems are safe and up to date. And we're investing more to address homelessness citywide through shelter funding and mental health outreach. I also think it's important, and I said this yesterday, that we remember and recognize what our new normal is. This is a normal with four-year terms. This is a normal with a 3.5% cap on property tax increases. bookended with large city departments that are highly mandated services and so we are trying to squeeze so much in between those two things and if you can imagine that is it is almost impossible but I think this budget also has trade-offs real trade-offs we have reductions to several city programs but these cuts reduce the damage to the quality of our services and that's important to me. These rightsizing initiatives do not cut to the bone and they maintain the integrity of the organizations to function and deliver for our residents. If a property tax increase were to fail, it would fall to the city manager's office to make all of the necessary cuts to balance this budget. And while I thank the city manager for the work that he has already done, I believe that outcome would amount to an abdication of my responsibilities as an elected official to represent the people of San Antonio. want my colleagues to recognize that decision. We were up here and voted to make tough decisions, and that includes budgets like this. And I do not think that our residents voted for us to give that authority to an unelected city manager. Period. The end. I also think that with this new normal, and I know I've said this before, but I really do think that we should consider a new way to present this budget. And I would ask the city to consider expanding the consultant who got us through that goal setting to expand that scope of work. to not only help us categorize our budget but help us develop a more transparent and understandable budget format for folks perhaps that means that during budget discussions we put the restricted funds and capital delivery presentations at the beginning because we know those are our budgets that we cannot touch and therefore we can focus our policy conversation where it belongs on the resources available for core city services and the choices we are making with them. We owe residents an honest budget, a clear explanation of those trade-offs, and a process that allows this council to understand exactly what is being funded and what is being reduced and why. And I believe that we have done that over the last five months. And for these reasons, I believe that I will be supporting this budget today. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Councilman Munguia, please.

Thank you, Mayor. I do want to thank our city staff, the budget office, and the finance team, and all the folks in the city manager's office. I've kind of asked a few of you, has this been the toughest budget year in your career here? Without reluctance, you all have said yes. And so I think we owe a lot to you. You've had to follow a lot of directional change from this council and you've gotten us so much information that we've asked so quickly to make our decisions hopefully easier. So thank you all for the hard work that you do and the work that goes unrecognized. Also want to thank the d4 team for being there for me for getting all those late meetings and all the information we need to get and communicating with city staff and so They're not here today to take a picture with me. They're still at the field office and let them leave that office today So they're still working out there But you know what's been kind of surprising to me or maybe not actually as surprising is when it comes to the tax increase in And the conversations I've had and the conversations I've seen had, it's actually been the most humble among us who have been the first to say yes. Those that have to sacrifice the most, Those that will feel the impact the most for the quality of life have said, you know what, if I need to pay a little bit more so that we can have these services, maybe not for me, maybe I don't need them, but our neighbors do. The kids in the neighborhood need that. The seniors in our neighborhood need a place to go. They have been the most understanding to say yes. And so I think that's in stark contrast with those who have had the most. We've heard today from people who own more than one parcel of property say that they cannot afford that. And the people who can barely hang on to their own home have said, you know what, we understand the need that this has. And so, of course, we don't take that lightly. And I think the fact that districts one through six especially who have the most impact and have a lot of poverty issues or the districts that have been pushing for this because we know that these services will affect our communities the most and all of us have constituents that don't want this and it's a tough conversation to have whether you're at the store or in a meeting people are going to stop you and say why did you raise taxes and it's a hard conversation to have but it was a necessary conversation to have And these programs, whether they're delivered by the city or nonprofits, are vital to neighbors and their residents. We saw that if we were to slash the nonprofit funding, 70% of those people that would be dropped from those programs are in districts one through five, 70%. So again, when we say the budget is not all things for all people, and we decide to cut that, that is really saying, District 1 through 5 don't deserve to be in this. And that's very hard to hear from some of our colleagues, knowing that this impact is felt on our neighbors, neighbors of mine where I live too. And slashing funding doesn't, again, do half of this city justice. for the services that they need. So when we talk about something to lift all boats, when half of this city is continuing to deal with poverty, drainage issues, infrastructure concerns, a lack of programs for their own families and kids, the bottom will fall out of this city. And if you think the burden right now is felt on those with the most, it will be to a much greater effect if we do not continue these programs that are so vital to so many people in our community. As my colleague mentioned, the state of Texas' Rainy Day Fund is sitting at $24 billion. For all the folks that came here about talking about taxes and not raising them, that's money that you've already paid. that the governor could help you and your families and me and mine, and they choose to sit on it. So when you come over here and you tell us, don't you dare raise taxes, how could you, why would you think of that, please go and tell the governor the same thing. And it has been mentioned, this budget has grown over years, mostly due to property value growth. So when that budget came in year after year with more and more money, people up here before me, this is my second budget only, those council members spent that money. Council members who are sitting here today spent that money that came in. Didn't want to reduce taxes, didn't want to give it back to the voters, they spent it. And you know what, they did great things with that money. There have been phenomenal programs started and done by these colleagues that are sitting up here with me, and that's fantastic. They've been very, very helpful to residents. But now that we need to keep up that growth to maintain things, not even to expand, but to maintain, folks want to spike the ball at the expense of residents on this side of the dais. I don't think that that's fair. We haven't lived up to our four year term that voters gifted us to plan and to educate and to think about our long term future over easy short term decisions. That's why we have a four year term now. That's exactly why residents did that is for us to make decisions and maybe not be popular but to go through that and not have to worry about an election right after that to make the tough decisions for the long term future of the city. and we just have not done that. Last minute decisions, different ways of going about this budget have not produced a long-term vision that this city needs and that it deserves. This budget isn't perfect. Nothing ever is. Not all of us got everything we wanted out of this. Nobody is enjoying a tax increase, but it's something we have to do and it's something I'm willing to defend to my residents and show them the services that they will get as a return for that investment. So I will be supporting his budget today it there's a lot of work to be done and we will continue that work starting tomorrow and I appreciate all my colleagues who have been reasonable and even mine aiming killed and minded open-minded on this budget process so there's still things to be done but I appreciate all of us up here making the tough decisions that we need to do and to all the city staff and to all the employees who have been waiting with bated breath to know what's going to happen to them Still having to do the services that I'm asking them to do that. We're all asking them to do So with that I will be supporting this budget today, and I appreciate everybody's hard work.

Thank you very much Thank You council member white, please

Thanks, Mayor. Begin by thanking city staff for all of the work over the past, I guess, since the summer. It does not go unnoticed, and so thank you for all of that. I want to thank my team, of course, led by Raul, But especially my policy director, Rebecca, who has worked tireless hours over the past few months on this budget. I truly, truly appreciate everything that you have done. To my colleagues, thank you all as well. We've been able to have open dialogue over the past, again, a couple of months, and especially over the past few weeks, you all have listened, you've considered, I think, the things that we've all been saying. We've had a nice exchange of ideas. Sometimes it gets heated, for sure, but that's just the nature of what we do and I appreciate all of your work on this and I do honestly believe that however you all vote today you are doing it because you believe it to be in the best interest of the citizens of San Antonio and so I think I think that needs to be said even though I disagree with what I believe the majority is going to do today Listen, the city of San Antonio is at a really interesting point in its history. And I believe, I honestly believe this city is ready to take off. Because we have a couple of things here that really I consider San Antonio's superpower. And somebody mentioned it earlier. Number one, it's in our people. The strength of our people. We have warm, smart people. hardworking citizens in San Antonio that cannot be matched in any other city in America. And number two, we have a unique culture of our very own here, which is made up of people, a blend of different communities that have all come together to make us what we are as San Antonio. And our people And our culture deserves a city government that goes to work every single day and fights for them to make their quality of life the very best it can be. And this city, it's ready to go. Now is the time. But we are never going to get where we want to go. and where we can go, where we can lift everybody up in this city, unless our city government gets its priorities straight. Now, long term, it is absolutely economic development, as Councilwoman Villagran stated, that that is truly the only way out. If we are going to lift everybody up, we need more jobs. We need better paying jobs here in our city. The difference in approaches between some of us here today is the belief that in some of these programs where you give directly and you see immediate impact now, a lot of which I believe are band-aids versus a focus on the longer-term approach, which really could institute change. Somebody said we're the 150th ranked big city in success or whatever it was. Nothing's changing here. We've been doing the same things for the last decade. And we still have a very, very poor city and a city that could be doing much better. But if we keep doing what we've been doing, it will not get better. We need to focus on economic development, and I hope that we're gonna concentrate on that over the remaining three years in our term. But at the same time, we cannot ignore that the spending of our city government is out of control. And I looked at 10 years ago, right, a decade ago, and how our general fund has grown by $600 million. And before my colleague in District 2 says it, because I know he will, yes, a lot of that is public safety money. But per the city's own documents, in 2016, public safety made up 66.5% of the budget. And this year, it's proposed to make up 65% of the budget, a 1.5% decrease. So there is a lot of spending going on other places besides public safety that has led us to where we are here today. Our population has grown, as we've heard, from 2016 to today, sure. But non-public safety personnel spending in our city is three times the amount of the population growth in San Antonio. 5.5% growth in the city, 18.5% non-police and fire personnel additions. It's not just spending on all the nice-to-haves. It's not just spending wastefully. It's also a growth in the city government and not just on the staff side, on the council side as well. And when you add it all up, It produces $158 million deficit. And Councilman McGeeha is right. For the last decade, whoever's been sitting in these chairs has spent every damn dollar that's come in. And one perspective is, well, that's what they should be doing. But another perspective is, why? Why do we have to spend each and every cent that comes into this city? It would have been nice to have some of that money here today so we wouldn't be looking at raising property taxes on the people of San Antonio. When we talk about where money should be spent in this budget, We hear it every day from our communities at those neighborhood meetings. It's about public safety. It's about critical infrastructure. And yes, in this budget, there are some good things on the infrastructure side, but on the public safety side, no dollars in here for additional police officers on the streets of San Antonio. And that bothers me. As Councilwoman Villagran stated at one of our earlier budget meetings, I think it was related to art or something like that, where she said, if we don't put it in the general fund, it doesn't show that we are committed to doing that as a city government. Well, the same can be true when it comes to public safety. We need to show our citizens we are committing to the public safety needs that they experience every single day. The gunshots in the alleyways, the thefts of the vehicles, the robberies of the homes, the homicides that we see all over the city. And so today, Mayor, I'm going to make an amendment here to the budget, and I put it on each of your desks that I am moving for the following fee adjustments. The alarm permits late fee from $30 to $78. The robbery alarm service fee from $600 to $772. The clearance letter fee from $50 to $75. And then additionally, making cuts. $200,000 from the Northeast Corridor revitalization program from the planning there, and then from the planning of SA Tomorrow, $947,354. So those fee increases, those cuts, and replacing them with the $1.6 million that that provides for 10 San Antonio Safe Officers, one for each district.

There's a motion and a second for an amendment as read. We'll move on to council discussion on the amendment. At this point, let's just raise your hand if you'd like to comment on the amendment. Councilman Kaur, would you like to? No, nothing, okay. So I'm just gonna go around, no. Councilman, I'll take a veto.

Thank you. Quick clarification. So with the cuts with it. Well, first off, thank you for I do appreciate the effort and and thinking creatively on how to add 10 safe officers. I agree. I think we all know that our residents do say public safety is top priority. So I appreciate I appreciate the creativity in doing this. For the essay tomorrow sub area planning is that the 947 is that jobs and if so, how many?

Councilmember white Yeah, I would have to defer to city staff. The total program is 1.6 Million dollars over the two years. So this cuts nine hundred and forty seven thousand I don't know if that would result in in anybody a job transfer or moving or what?

No, and I'm gonna look for Bridger white to come up the majority of that I believe is being spent on on outside assistance for that work

the one point the the allocation that we have for essay tomorrow what what's currently in the budget now initially the alternative was 1.7 which was 10 positions so the 947 would be some positions as well and it is a mandated program sorry it was a little muffled so it's a mandated program and could you say the last part again please so initially the alternative that was put forward was 1.7 that was 10 positions so any cut would involve people There are currently 7 dedicated staff members for essay tomorrow work on the program and it is a mandated program. OK it may be very clear at 947 does that eliminate a filled position, yes, actually of the 7, 3 are vacant, including the administrator but for our field so it'd be a matter of looking at which ones are filled but it would involve people.

Thank you and put another quick. Thank you clarifying question mandated.

Per state law, chapter 211 and 213, zoning regulations need to comply with the comprehensive plan. So creation of the sub-area plans is our comprehensive plan, our master plan. So when we zone, that has to align with land use. Got it.

Thank you for that clarification. So this does equal, there were some vacancies, so this would equal for people's position?

It would equal some positions, yes. Okay, around three or four, probably.

So give us 45 seconds to do the value to answer your question about the three vacant positions, and we'll get back to you shortly, within the minute.

Thank you. Are there any other comments on this amendment? Go ahead, Councilman Galvan, please.

Just really quick to clarify, I don't know if Maria could help answer somebody. How many police officer positions have we added over the last three to five years?

Councilman, from the staffing plan, we've added 200 positions over the past three years, not including fiscal year 27. And then we've also done some transfers from Parks Police to SAPD, the positions for the South Flores Police Station. So in my memory serves me right, it's about 370 positions since fiscal year 23.

Okay, great. I'm sorry, really quick. We're also adding, we've also put the CBA last week, so that's another $102 million over the next three years that we're approving for police resources, primarily through pay. How much are we adding in this budget for police resources or SAPD's budget?

So the growth in the police department is about $40 million, about a growth of about 6%.

Okay. And then we're also adding nine fire positions this year.

We are.

Okay. Just wanted to make that clear for about the public safety budget that we have this upcoming year and have what we had historically as well as other budgets and departments are not seeing any increases and apparently seeing tremendously more decreases as well. Thank you, Maria. Thank you, Mary.

Thank you. Councilman White, to clarify as well, the Northeast Corridor Revitalization Program, my understanding is that program is already cut by $250,000 in the budget. And so there was only $250,000 left. So this $200,000 would leave that program at $50,000. Is that correct?

There was $600,000 left.

No. The mayor is talking about the base budget. The base budget is $250,000. The base.

Yeah. This is the planning.

Yes.

Yeah.

The Northeast Corridor Revitalization Program. Okay.

It should have said planning on there.

Okay. Got it. Thank you. Councilman White, is that a field position or?

No position.

There's no position with that. Okay. Thank you.

And listen, we've, you know, the Northeast Corridor is obviously my area. We have a good handle on where we're going to revitalize that corridor. This is really an attempt just to not grab money again for my own district, but to say here is, I think, a balanced and fair way to get each of our districts another safe officer, which I know that our residents are appreciate and that I think our districts all need.

Councilman Spears, please. What chapter of the local government code did you reference? Is it 211?

Councilwoman, it's the local government code provision that again calls for all cities to have a plan if they're gonna have a zoning.

211 says we may have a zoning comprehensive plan.

213. So zoning regulations need to comply with the comprehensive plan, which is the SA Tomorrow comprehensive plan.

And we're required to have a department to enact the plan?

Well, the city charter. We're also required through the city charter to have the master plan and a planning director. So that's in our city charter. Okay. So to do the plans, we need to go through the process of creating. So we need a department or staff to work on them.

But that's not required, the department.

Well, the city charter requires a planning director. A planning director. And a plan. Yeah, to create the plans. You need staff to do the plans.

I just need a clarity because of how the local government code reads. It doesn't say specifically we need a specific department to enact the plan.

Well, I think part of the issue is that the city of San Antonio, we've we've done plans, so we have neighborhood plans, but our plans are over summer, 20, 30 years old. So when you look at how we're growing and developing as a city, And zoning regulations, those are in line with old plans. So that's why we may have a lot of plan amendments and zoning. So SA Tomorrow was done in 2016, and our sub-area plans are a component of SA Tomorrow, the comp plan, to have land use. And so land use guides zoning, and zoning guides development.

I just wonder if it's not something that could be taken on by another area that we already have pre-existing department, another department, or if we need a specific department for enacting this plan.

Councilman, there is not another department that could do that. I mean, that's why we have a planning department to manage the planning commission, the zoning requirements. And if we consolidated with somebody else, I'm not sure that that would necessarily save any money, to be honest with you. because those functions still have to be provided you you guys deal with those cases every two weeks uh i don't think now can we be more efficient probably maybe we could go through that as part of the comprehensive budget reviews but there isn't anybody else to do that work

Councilwoman if it helps we'll provide you the also the sections from the city charter that do require us to have a master plan and a director so I'm sure that although it not stated explicitly if you have a director it does contemplate either a department or group that carries out the required obligations under the city charter

OK, American jump in to answer the question. So based on what Bridget shared. Minus those three positions and some contractual dollars. The the. Without impacting fill positions. That number would be $620,000. Not $947,000 as proposed by the Councilman.

Thanks, Eric. Councilman White, does that modify your amendment at all? It's short $327,000.

Question is, don't impact field positions, then substitute your 952, 947 with 620.

We're sticking with what I have on here Okay, so then Eric just to clarify You get to 620 Just actually just recap what the entire cut looks like from in order to get to 947, please Well, I think he wants to keep it as is so one as is is 1.6 well then we'll eliminate seven positions and

We'll eliminate seven positions, four filled, three vacant.

Okay. And Andy, would we still be in compliance with our city charter?

Mayor, as long as we can carry out the obligations under the city charter, I'm sure that working with the manager, we can figure out a way to be in compliance.

Okay. My God, dude. Did you want to say something, Eric? Okay. So cutting seven positions, the lawyer's going to find a way to make sure we're in compliance with our city charter as a result of this. That is the amendment as read. Okay. Any other discussion on this amendment as read? Okay. There's a motion and a second. Please vote. Okay, the motion fails. Okay, so we'll go to the main motion. Council Member Cora, please.

Thank you, Mayor. I want to thank everyone that's been here all morning with us and for the last several months as we've gone through some really tough conversations about where we are putting our values as a city as a community we always say that your budget really shows what you truly care about and there was just a lot of discussion that just happened about public safety and at the end of the day public safety will and forever be the biggest part of our budget so there is no doubt I think in any of ours mind that public safety is a huge part of what we do and it'll continue to be that way and at the same time I want to thank all of the folks that have come out and spoke in support of the work that we are doing that's helping our most vulnerable our people as was shared those organizations that are putting in hard work day in and day out to ensure that everyone has access to the opportunities that we want them to as a resident of our amazing city that we all love so much. There's been a lot of conversation about why are we just increasing the tax rate without actually doing any budget cuts, but I just want to make sure we check in on the work that city staff, the tough work that city staff did this summer. Out of $158 million deficit, they actually made $90 million in cuts. That wasn't done easily. Those are a lot of people who We are very thankful for if your position was cut and you are being asked to move to a different position, thank you. Thank you. I know that's not easy and it's a hard thing to do when you signed up for a job working at potentially the library or now being asked to go to DHS or a different department. Thank you for being willing to take one for the team. But really, we really appreciate all of the folks that work for the city and we could not do what we do without you all. And at the same time as making those cuts, they also increase revenues. So we know we've heard for some of the industry folks today, but also we're thanking you guys for taking on those additional revenues to help your neighbor because those revenues are going to support all of the folks that really need it. And then at the same time, we are asking our residents to help pitch in. But I had a discussion last night and I didn't quite understand the real impact of property taxes over the last six years. So as was mentioned by some of our colleagues, homestead exemptions have increased significantly since 2021. So I went back and I just clicked around for several homes in District one. So many of you all know District one very clearly demonstrates the economic divide that exists in our city because we have very low-income vulnerable communities and at the same time some of our most wealthiest homes in the district as well so i went back and looked at uh inspired by councilmember mckee regis's math equation yesterday what someone was paying in property taxes in 2021 for an average median for a median homestead in district one so median homestead in district one that was around 235 They paid about $4,000 in taxes in 2021. In 2025, that same home paid $3,200 in taxes because of the help that Homestead has presented for that individual. So this next year, they're going to have to pay $36 more. So they would be at about 32, 36 for that same home. Still huge savings from where they were five years ago. Then let's look at, to the point that Council Member Munguia made, some of the most humble folks in our community are willing to make that sacrifice, even though that's gonna mean way more To another home in the district, that's a $1.5 million home. That $1.5 million home in 2021 paid $40,000 in taxes. In 2025, that same home paid $30,000 in taxes. And they, as a result of this incremental tax rate, if it passes today, will pay $250 more. If you were paying $30,000 in taxes, I believe our compassionate community would be willing to spend an additional $250 to make sure that our most critical programs of the city are not cut. Because as was demonstrated yesterday, if we do a flat rate cut across all of the departments, the departments that are hurt most are the ones with the most critical programs and services for our community. So that being said, some of the purple lining from this budget, I know it's tough, but here are some of the highlights. SAPD and SAFD did find significant efficiencies in their budget. They helped reduce overtime. They helped find some revenue increases. And that helped us approve a CBA that I think is showing our officers that we really do care about the work that they're doing, appreciate how hard it is, that they can continue doing that. ACS is actually one of the departments that's growing because we know how important spay and neuter is to our community. We know how important our stray and loose dog population is to address. And so they're going to be able to actually grow a hospital. They're going to do a lot more, be able to do a lot more with this budget as well. NHSD is actually continuing to preserve our major minor home rehab program, which is one of the most critical for those lower homestead value homes that we have. They're supporting a missing middle program for us that's going to actually be a pilot to see how we can build more affordable housing in the district. DHS is getting to continue to support our senior centers. We're getting to save one with the amendments as well in District 6, and continue to support our delegate agencies, many of whom are here today. Public Works, can never forget about Public Works, is gonna continue to revamp our sidewalk and IMP program. They're supporting a quick build program to help make sure that kids can walk safely to school in all parts of our neighborhoods. DSD is getting to enhance the proactive apartment inspection program that helps our apartments make sure that they are complying for all of our rental renting residents and they're also supporting increasing in support in vacant property and dangerous premises which are big issues in our communities. We're getting to save for our OHP program our cultural heritage district support individual that's going to be able to continue to help our areas that really want to support place making when it comes to cultural heritage. We're able to save the resiliency program for climate ready in our resiliency sustainability program and Last but surely not least, Metro Health is getting our reproductive justice fund, which is not coming from our general fund, but coming from Medicaid waivers. There are so many more departments that I have not highlighted. Our libraries are continuing. I know it's been a tough discussion about our libraries, but they're going to continue to support our residents. And of course, some of our other smaller departments that are really making an impact. We really thank you guys for the work that you are doing. So at the end of the day, what I would like to share to my colleagues, and I know A lot of us have already said, but this incremental tax rate that we are putting was not taken lightly. And I do not think we should be making amendments or asking for additional staff if we're not willing to make the base call to action on supporting our incremental tax rate. And so that is what I'm going to be voting to support today. I urge my colleagues to think about what this really means for your residents and if your residents would be compassionate enough to support the vulnerable neighbors next door that really need it. Thanks, Mayor. Thank you.

Council Member Castillo, please. Thank you, Justina, and the budget team and finance team for all your continued due diligence leading up to today. Really value your work and the time that you put into responding to our various questions and, of course, navigating the 10 perspectives in terms of Direction with this proposed budget. This is a really critical conversation and that as folks have shared none of us take lightly and I'm just a bit Humored by the buffoonery of the last-minute amendment to essentially contribute to the city's unemployment rate by putting amendment that would put some folks in the crowd without work all to support an amendment that lacks strategy, right? And when I say that, I mean, I value the work of our safe officers, but an amendment to assign 10 safe officers, what is the strategy, the methodology to determine that we do need one safe officer per district, particularly when safe officers don't operate based off of districts? they operate based off of substation, substation engines which we do not have 10. For example, I share safe officers that I value very much with districts three, four, and the bordering districts. So just highlighting that that's irresponsible planning and foresight to just put forth an amendment to give us equal 10x, whether it's code officers, whatever the case may be, there's no strategy. And that's fiscally irresponsible. But moving away from that I did want to highlight you know what I've said throughout this conversation that when we see a austerity budget austerity budget often means unemployment. And what I've heard from District 5 residents and residents throughout the city of San Antonio that were present at our budget town hall was a similar sentiment in understanding that contributing a bit more of that means that our most vulnerable Working families continue to have access to after-school programming Shaded parks extended pool hours and a cost of living adjustment for city employees that that was something that they were comfortable and willing to support In addition to that I would be remiss if I didn't think the city employees out in the field and in the offices ensuring that our policy Recommendations come to fruition and that the infrastructure projects that were submitting do come to fruition as well I'm extremely grateful for our District 5 team members who are also out in the field because the constituent services work never stops. But that constituent services work drives our budget priorities, ensuring that what I advocate and come here for each budget item and briefing reflects the needs of District 5 residents. So extremely grateful for our constituent services team who works tirelessly. We're out in the field today with the food distribution. And of course, connecting constituents to much needed services and finding resolution. A couple of highlights with this proposed budget that I will be supporting is an increase to the affordable housing budget by 6 million, restoring funding for CIP. As mentioned, this is where we make those great improvements that our community members expect of us. The $1 million for the Reproductive Justice Fund, extremely grateful for the Reproductive Justice Coalition for continuing to advocate and securing this funding. as well as the city's contribution for diversion and recovery. It also expands efforts for prevention for fraud and abuse of seniors. Of course, the 3% cost of living adjustment for civilian employees, adding nine uniform positions to the San Antonio Fire Department, retaining the Metro Health staff, sustainability staffer who works on increased neighborhood sustainability, and of course, the recommendation within the public works presentation to support the traffic calming program. There are also fees that I know District 5 residents have been calling for. And I'm reminded of prior to being in office, block walking, hearing from community members what their expectation was for the next elected official. And on Harlan Street, I had conversations with neighbor after neighbor and their priority was the high concentration of auto and metal recyclers in their community and their concern was the lack of enforcement and understanding that there's currently only one code officer with appropriate certifications to go out and inspect those facilities on the the the basis that the neighbors expect um was just there's not enough staff in terms of code to go out and inspect those facilities so I'm grateful that this budget reflects the need for cost recovery for auto and metal recyclers because, again, what the neighbors on Harlan shared with me were not just the stories of continued generations of cancer because of contaminated soil and pollutants in their neighborhood, but they shared that nothing would be done. And I'm grateful because of the leadership of the Quintana Neighborhood Association and active community members with Public Citizen that they have increased the regulations for this industry and today will be increasing the fees associated with that industry as well. So I look forward to supporting this proposed budget, but grateful for city leadership. Eric, of course, always presenting a balanced budget for us to consider, and grateful for my colleagues. Again, because what we have today, none of us are 100% satisfied with, but this is a body and a work of consensus and coalition building, and I think that's what we have before us today. So I look forward to supporting this budget. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Spears, please.

Thank you, Mayor. Yes, I also want to say thank you to city staff for all of your hard work and your late nights. I know it's been it's been a really rough time and I know you're you're looking at this trying to do this in the least impactful way to the to all of us. So I really appreciate that. And I also appreciate how hard my team has been working as well. And my colleagues, I know all of you have been working really hard to try to find the best path forward for your district. However, I just feel that raising taxes without taking steep cuts in our own budget is just a slap in the face for constituents and for taxpayers. Yesterday, our mayor presented a very strong, legitimate option. Councilman White also presented a strong, legitimate option in separate plans. Councilman White didn't cut any personnel at all. And the mayor's cut was 1.6%, which is a tiny percentage that could easily be looked at by the experts and the directors in each department who know best And it could be a fluid process where they are able to say, hey, I can do this through the year. And then I know that next year it's 2%, so I can prepare for that. We see this all the time out in private industry. I just don't understand why the staunch unwillingness to look at that when you're asking us to look at a huge tax increase that would greatly impact so many in our community because you Yeah, we're talking about a tax increase. But in a couple weeks, we're talking about the saws increase. November 1st, the emissions testing fee goes in place. And if you pass it, it's $28. But if you don't, you get to fix your car. And that can be thousands of dollars. The solid waste is going up. There's other fees going up across the board. We have fees going up within this budget itself. And then you throw in cost of living. I mean, this is just how you can't see that point of view. I just, I mean... It's shocking to me that you can't understand how you can't continue to squeeze the middle class like that. You're going to squeeze so many people out of their homes, including rentals, which is what Councilman White has stated as well. That increase will be passed on to them. on top of these regular fees that they have to pay out of their own pockets, too. I just, you know, I don't understand that, that you can't see there's things that we can cut minimally that won't catastrophize the programs. Like, you can still run the program. It's just... you're cutting it back a little bit. And also, we can bring back a lot of things if we decide that we need them. It's just, we gotta focus on core services. Core services, things that we must do. And again, that's public safety and infrastructure. I asked for one thing, because that's what's important to my district. And I was just told no. And I asked for core services. I mean, this is the only thing they've asked me for. I don't know how I go back to my constituents and say that I'm going to vote for a budget that doesn't have anything that they asked for in it. And I don't have a TERS. I don't have any other method here to get these things that I need in my district. And I just have to fight for them. I represent them. They sent me here to fight for them. A final budget that doesn't reflect our priorities in District 9 is not something that I can stand by, and I will stand with my residents on that and vote accordingly. We do agree that the path forward is economic growth and good jobs and safe communities. We know in recruiting big companies, medium-sized companies, they're looking for safe communities. Everyone's looking for that. They send scouts out who live here for months to see what it's like to be in San Antonio. So the messages that we send, the way we talk about our city, how safe it is, how are they meeting their infrastructure needs, they're looking at all of that. And and, you know, if we want to get serious about improving this city, then we got to get serious about economic development, because I want those that are vulnerable to be making more money so that they have a better lifestyle, a better a better, you know, everyday life. And that's what I want. And I don't I don't know that. I mean, programing is very important, but the things that were asked, we were looking at cutting wouldn't destroy all these programs. It just doesn't, it's almost immaterial when you look at it from accounting. And I just, the frustration I feel is just, it's very hard to express because I've tried, I've tried very hard to say how important this is to my district and it's just fallen on deaf ears. But I too have a motion to amend the budget So I move to amend the fiscal year 2027 budget to provide for 10 additional patrol officers at a cost of $1,157,618 in fiscal year 2027 and $1,493,586 in fiscal year 28. i propose that we fund these positions through the following a reduction in the adult programming by 750 000 and a reduction in the saws plumbers to people program by 407 618 dollars in 2027 and an additional reduction in each of those programs by 167 984 dollars in 2028 second

There's a motion and a second for the amendment as read. I'll just go around to see who would like to speak on this. Councilman McKee-Rodriguez, please.

Thank you. Unfortunately, due to the cuts that you've identified, I will not be able to support this amendment today. If instead, Councilmember White, Councilmember Spears, if you would like to remove an FTE from your office budget and transfer those over to SAPD and consider using any amount of your carry forward to make up the balance, I would be happy to support that amendment. Thank you.

One second. Council Member Spears or Council Member White, would you like to entertain that? Would you like to answer that just so folks know as they're providing feedback?

Well, I'll just say, Eric, is that something that has to be decided upon today? I mean, we sort of brought it up for the first time yesterday. And previously, I think we weren't clear on if this was something we could do or not. And if it is, do we have to do it today? Or can we work with you to make that change within our office? To do to do what specifically councilman to to essentially add another safe officer or police officer for our districts In lieu of some of our own district budget money is what you're saying If I understand though the amendment was specifically was not even just funding for your district but rather funding what you just proposed out of your budget

Correct.

It doesn't have to be the full 10. It's whatever number they would be able to do.

so my my advice would be to to give us the direction to do it today so that we're not coming back and amending the budget in the future so if you're if you're considering that i think we could we could draft up some some um specific language that gives us the ability and and count and council members if you choose to do that some ability to work through that and make it effective on you know October 15th but but but I think it ought to be part of the entire budget ordinance again so we're clear so it would be money coming from nine and ten to add officers to nine and ten We don't we don't distribute counts up to the north side substitute we we do distribute council members by council does we do not redistribute police officers so would likely be the north side substation yeah.

Eric to have an understanding of what adding additional officers to a substation does in terms of on M.

No, generally those costs are included in the cost of a police officer, so it's not going to cost us any more to power the building or what have you.

Certainly not the electricity bill, but other things. Yeah, thanks for clarifying that.

That would be part of the total cost of the officer, Mayor. I will also point out that the use of carry forward is a one-time source. So there's this not a recurring source.

Can we vote on this one and then give us on the second round to figure that out on the cost?

Well, so we're voting on the amendment right now. Yeah, this one. Correct. So in order for us to vote on it, unless folks don't need the information to vote on it. Okay. I think folks are ready to vote. Go ahead. Councilwoman.

So to be clear, we are voting on the amendment as stated. As stated, correct. Which is taking the money from different departments that Councilman Spears stated. The friendly amendment.

Yeah.

There's no friendly amendment.

Okay, so then to be very, hold on. Councilwoman, so we're voting on the amendment then, which is 10 patrol officers. Okay. Can you please restate it, Councilwoman? Thank you.

It's wordy, I know. I move to amend the fiscal year 2027 budget to provide funding for 10 additional patrol officers at a total cost of $1,157,618 in fiscal year 27 and $1,493,586 in 2028. These positions would be funded through the following budget reductions, $750,000 reduction in adult programming and $407,618 reduction in the saws plumbers to people program in 2027 and an additional reduction in each of those two programs by $167,984 in 2028.

Second I'm gonna wait till the city manager and the attorney are finished and then we'll vote That's normal, right? Yeah Okay Andy over to you, please

I'm sorry, Mayor. Is this the second motion?

This is the amendment reading the amendment as Councilwoman Spears has laid out.

So the as I understood it, I'm sorry, I was distracted, Mayor. I thought there was going to be a vote on the amendment as stated by the Councilwoman. That's right. Okay.

Okay. So you have nothing to add to that. Eric said you were going to read something.

It'll be a second motion.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. So there's a motion in a second on the amendment as read by councilman Spears, please vote. Okay. The motion fails. So now we're back to the main motion. Okay. Yes, on the second round, Council Member White.

Thanks, Mayor. Again, the point of the 10 officers, regardless of what substation they're in, is it would help provide additional police efforts around our city. What I find comical is really the hypocrisy to talk about affordable housing when we're here today to make housing more expensive. The cost of living is already so high in the city. Everybody up here talks about affordable housing, yet today we are going to raise the cost of living for people living in homes. And as was stated by one of the people in public comment, again, to think this won't affect renters down the road, I think is foolish as well. This is going to have a real impact on everybody. And let's remember what this plan is. It's to raise property taxes this year and then it's to raise property taxes next year as well. So it's not just going to be the $35 a year or whatever it was said earlier. It's tax hike upon tax hike. And still, even by doing that, as our own city staff has said, five years from now, we will still have over a $100 million deficit. Is the plan then again to raise taxes at that point? Three property tax hikes in the period of five years. Is that what we are going to continue to do to the people of San Antonio? As my colleague in District 7 stated earlier, 1.6%. That's all that we had to do as a city government is find 1.6% in cuts. And we couldn't do it. And instead, we're going to raise property taxes for the first time in 33 years, and then again, per the plan, is to raise them again next year. So many families are hurting. So many folks have said it today, the cost of living is so high, and yet our solution is to throw an increased tax upon them. It's wrong. It's just, it's wrong to do it. The mayor made a proposal yesterday. Uh, that is, that is similar to, to my proposal of across the board departmental cuts. And speaking of across the board this year, Maria, I think we found what $12.8 million when we did the comprehensive budget reviews. Right? 12.8. And how many departments was that? Five. Five out of our 40-something departments is all we did for these comprehensive budget reviews. If they would have been done for every department, would we have found that 1.6% and then not been in a position to raise property taxes? How can we ask the citizens of San Antonio to pay more when we haven't even done that? So what I would like to see, and many council members said it yesterday, is in response to the mayor's plan, they said, well, we don't know what across the board would look like. What would that look like for each department? And I think those are fair questions. And so, Eric, what I would like to see is a delay today, a B session next Thursday on what it would look like with an across-the-board cut, as has been suggested, and then a vote on the budget next Friday. So with that said, I move to continue the vote on items five through 10 to next Friday.

There's a is there a second okay, there's a motion and a second to the continue items five through ten As described be session next week followed by a vote next week Discussion on that amendment or the the motion to continue Okay, councilman Spears go ahead

Yeah, I really appreciate this plan because I think what we'll find is that this is even less impactful than you can possibly imagine to all the programs that you're so worried about and that I'm worried about. Don't misunderstand, I'm worried about all these programs. I see value as well in all of them. But this is a very pragmatic, smart approach and that to not allow enough time to look at this and to say, well, we should have been looking at this from the whole time. We've been all trying to figure out ways to do something here to alleviate the deficit and I think we owe it to our constituents to really look at this and delve into it. And the departments have already been working very hard and I think that they can actually end up impacting their own departments even less in some cases. And, you know, throwing around a big number, but when you spread it out over a year, it looks very different than when you just hear this big number, potentially 12 million right in public safety. When you think about that being a million a month. it's less impactful. So I just, I think that you've got to, I think we owe it to our constituents to really look at this, and I think that we can. A lot of this work's already been done, and in fact it'll be even less impactful in many cases. I just am certain of that. And I trust the directors of these departments because they know what they can do, where they're impacted the most, better than we do, for sure. And I just want to hear what they have to say. And I think it's a strong plan, a strong approach, and fiscally smart approach to really alleviate

what the impact that this will have on our our taxpayers so thank you eric in case informs anyone else's um comments though would you could you speak to a little bit about what that means because we understand the deadline is the 27th of september yeah i mean the the 27th is the following sunday so the special meeting would be on the 25th um then you're talking about a B session the day before so as long as it's done before the but by the Charter requirement of September 27th and just a reminder even if if that fails then you would have that amount of time I'm sure you're already doing some of the work that would help us understand how you would come up with 165 million dollars over two years but just to remind everybody

that would be the amount of time that you have to come up with with what that looks like yes yeah and that goes back to scenario a minus so I think it's the additional critical review we would need to do on those handful of of of items that we shared in yesterday's presentation

councilmember I'll draw take a veto please a couple of clarifying questions so I appreciate the intent of not of trying to find more to not pass the burden on of a tax rate increase on to our residents also to I mean the project manager and me knows a deadline and we stick to deadlines and we all knew this deadline was today and our budget team knew that this deadline was today so I I'm not sure, what is the additional time gonna buy us? Is this where we wanna look at what the 1.6% cut and the 2% cut would do? Yeah, exactly.

So many people yesterday, at least four, I think said, well, hey, what does it look like if we do the across the board cuts in each department? And I think if city staff has another week to look at that, maybe we can get answers on that and that may inform people and maybe they wanna make a different decision next Friday.

Well, so what I heard yesterday, and Eric, I'll leave this to you, what I heard yesterday from a majority of our colleagues was that people weren't in favor of the 2% or 1.6% across the board. Eric, I see you shaking your head, so I think you're in agreement. And so that's what I'm saying. I mean, is this going to be an exercise where we're placing undue stress on our budget team just to place undue stress on our budget team? I mean, if a majority of our colleagues are saying they're not okay with the across the board cuts, either 1.6 or 2%, then I just don't know what we're doing. Are we just spinning our wheels?

I think Councilman Mark White, though, had it correct in that many folks yesterday were uncomfortable with it based on not understanding what it would look like. And while we have spent several weeks working on this, I don't think everybody assumed that we would do a property tax increase. And so now, there is an actual interest in understanding how to avoid it and it's only 1.6 percent and continuing the item and helping people understand that so we can all explain it to folks I think that's fair so there's a motion in a second to continue the item call to question we were already there yeah okay please vote yeah okay motion yeah there's I said there's a motion in a second yeah please vote thank you The motion fails. Okay. Would anyone else like, so now we're on the main motion. Okay, okay. Would anyone else like to speak on the second round on the main motion? Councilwoman Spears. Councilwoman Spears, this is your second round, right? Sorry, I didn't have my mic on. That's okay.

Alright, I would like to amend the budget to implement moving District 9 and 10 staff positions in any necessary district budget adjustments to the Police Department budget for two safe officers for the North substation.

2nd.

okay there's a motion and a second as read what is the is that I just heard a whisper is that in perpetuity what is the time frame is that forever is that a permanent thing Eric is that how we should understand that yes ma'am okay so if they're in theory if there are different council members in the future and they want to bring those positions back they would have to To do that via the budget as well in the same way that they've doing them bring them back if they wanted to add staff back to their if another district 9 person or another district 10 person in the future wanted to add Personnel back to their office that has to be approved by the future council. Yep.

Okay, so, okay And and the cost of that would be roughly three hundred twenty thousand dollars for two office to safe officers per year and

Okay.

Okay. Go ahead. I just want to add a clarification in that although there will be a designation to the north station substation, ultimately it's the police chief that will determine where operationally his resources will be deployed.

Okay. Yeah. Thank you, Andy, for that clarification. Council Member Villagran?

I understand. Do we need to adjust our policing? Yes, we do. But again, as I've stated before these last three days, we have over 5,000 law enforcement officers in the area. I've talked with Chief Salome. He can come up here, and I've asked him to coordinate with the law enforcement. uh... but before you speak i am not for unless there is a vacancy in your field offices this is the lgc staff which is managed by the entire uh... council and i am not comfortable with uh... people who have jobs losing their jobs for jobs that we don't have. So Chief Salome, can you talk to me about, could we see that we may need like less patrol and maybe more traffic or different officers once we we do that shift because I know this isn't something suppose asked for because I feel like they would have asked for it in the in the negotiation so could we see a possible shift is that needed now or is this something we can look at in 2028 2029 if you could answer yeah what I'm looking at now is

to the original point is we're working with the alamo area chiefs and the school district police chiefs to make sure that we're all coordinated and working together in areas where we can we obviously support a lot of what they do and they back us up when it's uh when they're available to but i can tell you that right now part of my responsibilities as the new chief is looking at areas where we can be efficient shifting resources and that's part of the operational control that that i'm exercising as i go through My first my first week and so yeah, it's it's traffic. It's it's all of those things and so of course I've got designated safe officers there. We're not taking anything away from the safe officers But adding to different units like the traffic unit looking at ways to add additional investigators. That's all on my plate right now That's something that I'm working on Thank you.

Thank you. So my question to councilmember nine and ten. Do y'all have vacant positions and

I do, and I'm flexible on whether it's patrol or traffic or safe.

Councilman White, do you have a vacant position?

Yes, so we, I mean, thank you for taking.

Yes or no? Do you have a vacant position in your office?

Hold on, hold on. Please direct the questions to the chair. Hold on, please.

Councilwoman, I just want a yes or a no. This is my extra time. This is my time to speak.

So I'm the chair and that's the decorum here is that you direct those to the chair. Councilman White, please answer her question.

Thank you for taking an interest in how we run our District 10 office. We have now a couple of part-time folks and the rest of the staff, it's filled, but we are looking to potentially make some adjustments as we move into the next fiscal year. We have some people that may be leaving. And so I would respectfully say that our District 10 office should be able to manage itself how we want.

And I would respectfully say we are an LGC. And so this is an LGC decision, I feel. But I'm not for I can't support this because it would possibly take a job away. And I do feel like Chief Salome needs the opportunity to look at the department as it's run and tell us what he needs. We not tell him what he needs. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Okay.

Councilman core, please just asking a clarifying question so the position would be from their offices in any additional fees because like For 320 is it 320 thousand dollars, so it'd be 160 from both So it just come from one position and additional funds from their offices the way I understood the amendment is that it would come from positions and or operations of the district budgets and

In perpetuity?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay, great. Thanks. Councilman Munguia, please.

I got just some clarifying questions. Number one, do they have enough money to cover the officer's salary? And is it covering just the salary or is it covering all of the additional benefits and things that officers get as the full package of an employee? Because it's not just the base salary for any employee. There's a lot of additional money that goes into just the base salary.

$160,000 includes the salary, the equipment, the benefits. The way that I understand the amendment, that amount will come from the district's budget. So they have sufficient budget in fiscal year 27. They would have to make adjustments within their budgets to be able to reduce it by $160,000.

And they would also be on the hook. in their individual budgets for the increases in pay that we all just well most of us just passed last week because there's a five percent increase in officer pay so is that they're gonna have to also pay for that next fiscal year

That would be for discussion. The way the amendment reads right now is only the value of one position, which is a 160, but does not include increases in the outer years.

And if those specific officers that are hired, if they have to do overtime work, are the districts 9 and 10 going to also pay for the overtime work?

That's not the way the amendment reads right now.

Okay, because it's not a static employee 9 to 5. So my concern is that obviously officers are going to have non-traditional hours and include overtime. So it's not going to be wholly paid for by their budgets. And unless they're going to make an amendment that they're on the hook for no matter what and they can decrease their staff or their offices as time goes on, that's one thing. But also I think what Eric's point is, is just that these officers will not be officially assigned to Northside. They will be added to the police force and the police chief will make a decision on staffing levels based on what? What is the police chief basing staffing levels on these units by?

So it's based on the needs of the department is based on operational needs that she, he will make those decisions.

So is it the chief's opinion? Maybe he might need to come up here. Is it the chief's opinion that the North side substation needs, uh, two more officers over East, Central, South West patrol?

We'd have to do a study based on workload. We're constantly shifting resources based on things like call volume, population, growth, things like that. So I've not done an assessment like that to tell you where they were needed the most.

Well, I would hate for my colleagues to pay for officers that will serve our districts or something. So there's a lot of questions remaining on that. Thank you.

Okay. There's a motion and a second on the amendment as read. Councilwoman Mesa-Gonzalez, please.

Yeah, I just want to make a point. I think this really sets a bad precedent for our form of government, the LGC, our employees, especially at this time, at this hour. This is your third or fourth amendment, and I'm just not comfortable voting.

Councilmember Spears, go ahead. Can you clarify if we were to make this patrol officers? Is Jesse still our chief here?

I'll answer the question.

Sorry.

If it's patrol officers, the cost?

the cost and then clarify how we can ensure that they're serving our area, our station.

Let me take a swipe at this. Chief, you can back me up. The deployment of officers is the chief's responsibility. You at the council level do not dictate where those go. Now, if you all want to entertain a motion to take district budgets for the Northside substation, it has to come with the proviso that if we re-look at staffing or patrol district changes, then there's no guarantee that those two positions are going to stay there evermore. They will be evermore funded by your district budgets, but if things happen, It's under his control to be able to move. The first question is a patrol officer is a bit less expensive. That would be $220,000 in the first year for two officers and $298,000 in the second year. So $518,000 over the next two budgets. Chief, go ahead.

I cannot promise you that they could stay there.

gonna withdraw the amendment then but I will say this it isn't the 11th hour we've been asking for this I have asked for this since the day I took office so again just trying to get creative here on how I can get the needs met in my district absent any other vehicle to do so so you know I It's not, again, I've just asked for it over and over, and everyone just ignores me and doesn't care about what happens in Districts 9, 10, or 8, or 7. And that's fine, that's fine. Councilman White.

I do just want to thank Councilman McKee-Rodriguez for at least throwing that out there to see if we could do it. I mean, we may not always agree on this issue, but you know that it's important to us, and so appreciate you suggesting it.

Council member core, please. Thank you mayor chief. Would you come up real quick? I? I spoke to council member Spears about what was going on in our district with SAPD and the challenge with patrol. And I learned a little bit about how districts are set up and how substations and districts for police are different than council districts. So can you just give us a little bit of color regarding what's going on with patrol in the north side districts and how that how that is or is not different from what's happening in other areas? Just want to clear up any miscommunication.

There's crime trends and they're different in different areas. Just depending, you know, right now we're dealing with a increase in residential burglaries. We're dealing with an increase in car burglaries and some, I'll call it a more organized, uh, thefts in districts nine and 10 and the boundaries that you share. But to your point, you know, whether it's safe, whether it's the patrol districts, like central and downtown service, not just district one, their service, a little bit of district five, a little bit of district two. And so there's different, our service areas and our substations often overlap with multiple council districts across the city.

So one thing Councilmember Spears has mentioned to me is a concern about traffic in front of schools and some of her patrol officers in, I guess, the north substation have been out for various issues. Can you commit to working with Councilmember Spears and White to ensure that they have the appropriate coverage for traffic in those areas as well?

yeah absolutely and that's something that i'm working on currently in in district one particularly with a couple of neighborhoods there and so we'll get a list of you from you will continue to communicate on those specific neighborhoods and we'll come up with a traffic enforcement plan and then working with our folks in transportation department as well to see if there's calming measures that need to be taken okay thank you so much chief thank you mayor okay thank you um as the amendment has been withdrawn um we'll we're back to the main motion okay and

Does anyone else like to sign up on the second round on the main motion? Okay. Thank you to the city staff that worked so hard to get us to this moment, a very difficult budget discussion. I firmly believe a budget should reflect our values, should reflect an approach that best meets the needs of our people and minimize the economic burden on our neighbors during this time. I don't believe the budget before us does that. For months, I have worked to find additional sources of revenue from community contributions to reviewing buckets of money that have previously received very little scrutiny from the city-initiated tourist, the hotel occupancy tax, ready to work, and yes, a Medicaid 1115 waiver. Because if we're being asked to consider something we haven't done in 30 years, then we owe it to the people to exhaust all options. I have said consistently that raising property taxes is my last resort. The reviews I have asked for have showed us we had an opportunity to reduce spending by at least $18 million over two years and spend in a smarter way to break the spending habits that contributed to this $158 million deficit. We had an opportunity to help ourselves. For example, we could have saved $3.4 million or $6.8 million across two years from the general fund if we transferred eligible expenses to Ready to Work, a move that would not have impacted one current Ready to Work participant, and more importantly, would have helped people today, opportunity youth, single moms, justice-involved folks. That $3.4 million could be going to infrastructure projects and council districts, but now we're having to issue debt for those projects a move that further decreases our bond capacity to now just 442 million. We owed it to our neighbors to make the tough cuts, and unfortunately, this budget shows we punted. With what's left in this budget, our neighbors are left wondering if this tax increase was necessary or whether we can definitively say it's the lowest it could be. I think the answer to both questions is no. It is hard to explain why we didn't transfer eligible expenses from the general fund to other pots of money to reduce the stress on the general fund. And I think it'll be hard to convince our neighbors a property tax increase isn't helping to fund things that don't require the city's money. This budget still subsidizes Fiesta by $700,000, still gives UT Public Health $2 million. UT San Antonio's annual operating budget is $975 million. They did not need the city's $2 million. Still gives the botanical gardens, which charges a ticket fee to enter, still gives them $1 million. Still funds the World Heritage Office from the general fund for $3 million a year when it was clear we could have saved that money in the general fund if we decreased the Visit San Antonio budget. We couldn't even cut ADK from a bike festival. So all of that while failing to restore the staff's proposed cuts to tuition assistance for our COSA employees. failing to reallocate 1.5 million for eviction prevention from downtown, excuse me, from down payment assistance, failing to reallocate money to help people apply for a homestead at the very time we are considering a property tax increase. This is a business as usual budget, but this time business as usual comes with a property tax increase on our neighbors during an affordability crisis. With the staff's proposed cuts plus an additional 1.6 across the board cut in spending that I proposed yesterday in FY27 and a 2% cut in FY28, we could have told our neighbors that they would not have a property tax increase for two years. That's like saying if you had $1, I'm asking for a penny and a half, a penny and a half, and then plan on another two pennies in FY28. We might not need the full two pennies in FY28, but if we plan for that and act accordingly, then we can avoid a property tax increase for two years. But instead we punted, said we'll look at that next year. And ultimately that means our neighbors will have to pay. I look forward to the conversations we'll have soon after this budget season to hopefully capitalize on the opportunities that we left on the table this year. There's a motion and a second on item five. Let me do that. Madam Clerk, please read the caption.

Item number 5 is an ordinance adopting the annual consolidated operating and capital budgets for the City of San Antonio fiscal year 2027 that begins October 1, approving projects included in the fiscal year 2027 to fiscal year 2031 five-year infrastructure management plan, approving the fiscal year 2027 to fiscal year 2032 six-year capital improvements program for the City of San Antonio, approving certain contracts providing for a one-time annuity increases for retirees and their beneficiaries, and revision to the city's contribution rate in connection with the Texas Municipal Retirement System, authorizing personnel complements, appropriating funds, amending related ordinances, and authorizing the city manager to further amend the budget to make necessary adjustments to maintain a balanced budget.

Mayor, although the clerk didn't state it, the motion is to approve the budget except for the funding for Guardian House.

That's what I just mentioned to her, yes. Okay, thank you. Okay, please vote. My screen's frozen. The motion carries. Now that the balance of the budget has been approved, we will take up funding included in the proposed budget for which council members wish to recuse. The next item is funding for Guardian House, and Council Member Munguia will be recusing. Is there a motion to approve the funding for Guardian House?

I move to approve the funding in the budget for Guardian House.

It is moved and seconded to approve the funding in the budget for Guardian House. Please vote. Okay, the motion carries. Madam Clerk, please read the caption for item six.

Item number six is an ordinance ratifying the adoption of the fiscal year 2027 budget that will raise more revenue from property taxes than in the fiscal year 2026 budget.

Council Member Villagran is recognized to make a motion.

I move to approve item six.

It is moved and seconded to approve item six. Please vote. Okay, the motion carries. Madam Clerk, please read item seven.

Item number seven is an ordinance setting the ad valorem tax rate for maintenance and operation of the city of San Antonio at thirty five point one three eight cents per one hundred dollars of taxable valuation for the tax year beginning on January 1st 2026 and ending on December 1st 2030 December 31st 2026 Councilmember via guns recognized to make a motion.

I

I move that the property tax rate be increased by the adoption of a tax rate of 35.138 cents per 100 of taxable valuation, which is effectively a 2.20% increase in the tax rate.

Okay. $100. Yep. Okay. There's a motion and a second. Please vote.

Mayor and Clerk, if we could get a visual on the vote on this one, if we can. All right. Well, then can somebody state the number? We need to state out loud. We need to know the vote, the numbers.

Okay. So on item seven, we will do a voice vote.

Council Member Speers. I'm sorry. I skipped. Council member Cora. Aye. Council member Mickey Rodriguez. Aye. Council member Villagran. Aye. Council member Munguia.

Aye.

Council member Castillo.

Aye.

Council member Munguia. Aye. I'm sorry. Sorry. Council Member Galvan.

Aye.

Council Member Alderete-Gavito. Nay. Council Member Mesa-Gonzalez. Aye. Council Member Spears. Nay. Council Member White. Nay. Mayor Jones. No. It's a seven yes, four no.

Okay.

The motion carries. Madam Clerk, please read item eight.

Item number eight is an ordinance setting the ad valorem city property tax rate to pay the principal and interest on the funded debt of the city of San Antonio at 21.150 cents per $100 of taxable valuation for the tax year beginning on January 1st, 2026 and ending on December 31st, 2026.

Council member Villagran is recognized.

I move for the adoption of the debt service tax rate of 21.150 cents per $100 of taxable valuation, which is an increase in the tax rate.

It is moved and seconded to approve item eight. Please vote. The motion carries. On item 9, Madam Clerk, please read the caption.

Item 9 is an ordinance amending fees as included within the fiscal year 2027 budget within the general fund and certain restricted funds and amending the city code of San Antonio, Texas to reflect such changes.

Council Member Villagran, you're recognized, please.

I move to approve the fee ordinance item nine.

It is moved and seconded to approve item nine. Please vote. The motion carries. Madam Clerk, please read the caption for item 10.

Number 10 is an ordinance carrying forward certain fiscal year 2026 funds amending prior appropriations Appropriating funds for requirements and city projects initiatives and departments, okay Councilor via God is recognized.

I move to approve the closing ordinance item 10 It is moved and seconded to approve item 10, please vote. I Okay, the motion carries. Thank you again for the hard work. That is the conclusion of our business and the time is now 1 p.m. and this meeting is adjourned.