SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association has a new contract, new leadership, and a new relationship with city management.
But, when it comes to the city manager’s salary and tenure, the fire union has the same stance it did in 2018: cap it.
“Our stance on Proposition C is a matter of principle, aimed at fostering a more equitable and progressive city administration,” SAPFFA President Joe Jones wrote in a Monday news release.
Proposition C would undo the salary cap and term limits that 59% of San Antonio voters approved six years ago following a union-led charter campaign. The city manager is currently limited to a salary of up to 10 times the lowest-paid city employee and eight years in the city’s top administrative role.
The union’s announcement comes late in the election season, just two weeks before early voting begins on Oct. 21. It has been two months since city council put six charter amendments onto the ballot and two-and-a-half weeks after the two sides agreed on a new contract for the firefighters and paramedics for the first time in 15 years.
Jones said the union had been “laser-focused” on finishing the contract, which provides more than 21.3% worth of raises over three years, and the charter amendment “was not commanding a lot of our bandwidth.”
“We got a stabilizing contract, and people thought that that would parlay into our non-participation, or not taking a stance, or even being in favor of overturning our own city charter amendment. And it’s a separate issue,” Jones told KSAT.
‘Don’t want to see history repeat itself’
The union’s 2018 campaign to install the caps came amid a years-long contract battle with the city and widely seen as a referendum on then union’s nemesis, then-City Manager Sheryl Sculley. At the time, the union was led by Christopher Steele.
The caps didn’t apply to Sculley and her $475,000 base salary, though she announced her retirement shortly after the November 2018 election, after 13 years working for the city.
However, her successor, Erik Walsh, has a salary currently capped at $374,000 and will need to leave his position by March 2027 unless voters decide to double back on their 2018 change.
Supporters of Prop C say that the caps need to be scrapped to ensure the city can attract top talent. And some had wondered if the union would even weigh in on the issue, now that it’s now longer at loggerheads with city management.
Jones says the union has “tremendous respect” for Walsh and Deputy City Manager Maria Villagomez, who negotiated the new contract for the city. But that did not stop SAPFFA’s executive board from unanimously deciding to oppose Prop C.
“(Firefighters) don’t want to see history repeat itself. We’re not concerned with Erik Walsh, right. This is not personal. It’s professional,” Jones told KSAT.
He laid out the reasoning further in the Monday statement.
“Just as City Council members and the Mayor are subject to term limits, it is logical and equitable for the City Manager to be held to the same standard. Term limits promote a healthy rotation of leadership and fresh perspectives in our city’s governance.
“Furthermore, tying the City Manager’s salary cap to the lowest-paid city employee’s wage underscores our commitment to fair and healthy working conditions for all city employees. This approach ensures that the compensation structure supports living wages and reflects the value of every worker’s contribution to our community.”
Joe Jones, SAPFFA President
Trouble for Prop C?
The union’s announcement could mean trouble for Prop C, which is already on shaky ground.
A recent poll by UTSA showed the effort to roll back the caps is wildly unpopular, though a new PAC supporting the six charter amendments has questioned the polling’s accuracy and has said its internal polling shows the measure doing much better.
That group, RenewSA, includes several notable names from San Antonio’s business community and has announced plans to spend more than $1 million to support their passage.
The campaign provided an emailed statement from one of its tri-chairs, businessman and Morgan’s Wonderland founder Gordon Hartman.
“Proposition C, like the other five propositions, was developed by the Charter Review Commission with thorough community input. It ensures San Antonio is competitive and doesn’t lose top city manager prospects to cities like Austin, Dallas and Phoenix. Having a highly qualified and experienced city manager who can effectively and efficiently manage 14,000 employees and a budget of $4 billion is essential in ensuring that our public safety employees have the resources they need to carry out their jobs. Since 2018, San Antonio is the only Texas city to cap its city manager’s salary and tenure, which puts our ability to hire and retain the best city manager in jeopardy.”
Gordon Hartman, Tri-Chair for RenewSA
Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who had asked his charter review commission to consider rolling back the caps, provided a statement through text messages from a spokesman.
“Proposition C would give the Mayor and City Council the same authority as those in Austin and Dallas.
“The public deserves a stronger voice in our City Manager contract negotiations. Voters currently have less of a say, as San Antonio’s bar is effectively capped at a level that makes us less competitive than our Texas peers.
“If we’re going to retain the top talent in San Antonio, the public needs the flexibility to hire the right City Manager for our 13,000-employee government.
“I’m just grateful that Joe Jones and Erik Walsh’s teams negotiated a contract that City Council was able to ratify for the first time in 15 years. That’s serious progress, but everyone’s entitled to an opinion on these issues. That’s how democracy works.”
Mayor Ron Nirenberg
The union has nearly $920,000 in the war chest of its own PAC, according to its latest campaign finance report, but it’s not clear how much the union will spend.
Jones said SAPFFA plan to at least make yard signs, but he did not know whether there would be commercials.
NOTE — A previous version of this story misstated the parameters of the salary cap. It has been corrected in the version above.