SAN ANTONIO – The City of San Antonio is expected to grow its budget to a whopping $3.7 billion this year as it pumps up its Animal Care Service budget, makes the biggest increase to its police department this side of the millennium, and funds hundreds more homeless camp cleanups.
A long-expected hike in city solid waste fees is also part of the proposed budget, though the city also expects to slightly lower its property tax rate. City council members previously increased an existing tax break for homeowners.
City staff did not make the full proposed budget for the 2024 fiscal year available ahead of their scheduled presentation Thursday morning. However, City Manager Erik Walsh told reporters during a briefing that the 9% increase over the current $3.4 billion budget was largely driven by “capital and construction-type elements.”
The general fund portion of the budget, which is used to pay for most city services, is $1.6 billion, he said.
The city’s fiscal year runs from October through September. City council members are expected to pass a final version of the budget on Sep. 14.
POLICE & FIRE
The city currently has 2,588 authorized SAPD positions, including seven new spots the council added this spring for expanding the mental health program. The proposed budget would ratchet that up by another 105 uniform positions.
Walsh said the city has “never added, that we can find, in any recent history” that many positions. A review of city budget documents dating back to FY 2000 shows the next highest increase from year-to-year was 100 between the 2008 and 2009 fiscal years.
Out of the proposed spots, 100 would be for patrol positions as the city looks to add 360 more officers on the streets in the next three to five years.
The other five positions would be instructor positions at the SAPD Training Academy, where the city hopes to ramp up the number of graduates from an average of 159 per year to 235 to keep up with retirements and with the new positions they plan to add.
Although city officials hope to get a federal grant to partially fund 50 of the positions, Walsh said the city is setting aside enough money to fund all of the positions out of the general fund.
The city budget also includes 32 new firefighter and paramedic positions.
ANIMAL CARE SERVICES
ACS attracted lots of public scrutiny after the deadly dog mauling of an elderly man on the West Side in February, though its director believes council members’ willingness to shell out more money for the agency isn’t directly linked.
The proposed budget would be a 26% bump to the department’s budget, Walsh said.
Highlights include adding seven ACS officers to respond to all of the 3,500 bite reports they receive and follow up on compliance issues for dangerous dogs.
The city also gets 50,000 critical 311 calls for ACS issues such as cruelty, neglect, and aggressive dogs, but Walsh says the city only has the staff to respond to about 44% of them.
The budget proposal includes another eight ACS officer positions to respond to those calls and boost the response rate to 64%. Staff have a three-year plan to continue adding officers to get to a 100% response rate.
The budget proposal also includes money for an additional veterinarian team to check out animals that are brought in, more staff to increase adoptions, and raising the fee the city pays rescue agencies from $84 to $200 per dog they pull out. Between those efforts, Walsh said the city expects it can get another 3,000 animals out of the facility.
There’s also money for 44,000 spay and neuter surgeries through the clinics at Brackenridge Park or Brooks. The city expects to hit just 24,000 spayed and neutered pets this year.
HOMELESSNESS
Homeless outreach and tackling encampments were a top priority for residents who answered the city’s budget survey.
Walsh says the city has more places now to house people, and the city is looking to open another low-barrier shelter. And for the first time, it’s setting a goal of getting 400 people off the street.
It’s also adding an additional $200,000 for rental and utility assistance to help prevent more people from losing their homes.
On the other hand, the proposed budget has $500,000 for cleaning up homeless camps.
The city is scheduled to do 500 homeless camp cleanups in the current budget year. The extra money would allow them to pay contractors to help them get to 700 cleanups.
Walsh said the city would commit to perform an assessment of a reported camp, outreach to the people there, and cleaning it up within two weeks of being called about it. The cleanup schedule will be publicly available, he said.
TRASH FEES
A long-expected hike in the solid waste fees will be part of the proposed budget and would range from $1.26 to $4.75, depending on what size trash can one uses.
The city says the costs for hauling solid waste have continued to climb faster than the fees it hauls in. With council members against cutting services, city staff say that leaves a rate hike as the solution.
When combined with two environmental fees for solid waste and parks, customers currently pay $18, $22, or $30 per month as part of their CPS Energy bills.
Current solid waste and associated fees from City of San Antonio website. (City of San Antonio)
City staff propose increasing the solid waste environmental fee, which funds citywide services like illegal dumping pickup and household hazardous waste dump sites, by $1.26 to $3 a month.
While everyone pays the environmental fees, whether they live in a home or an apartment, the city also plans to increase the cost to customers that have medium or large trash cans. Their solid waste fees would increase another $1 and $3.49 respectively, while fees for the smallest carts stay the same.
The end result would be trash customers paying $19.26, $24.26, or $34.75, though Walsh said the city would still have lower rates and better service than other Texas cities like Dallas and Austin.
PROPERTY TAX
Walsh said the city plans to “slightly” lower its property tax rate, though he did not provide a definitive amount.
The city’s rate is just one of several that are combined onto Bexar County property tax bills. And even if it goes down, a property owner might still end up paying more because of increasing property values.
The exception will be for homeowners with a homestead exemption, who should see a lower tax bill — at least for what they pay the City of San Antonio. The city council already doubled the homestead exemption, which reduces how much of a home’s value can be taxed, from 10% to 20%.
That increased tax break would be enough to offset even the maximum 10% increase in a home’s assessed value.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
LEARN MORE
City staff will host a series of town hall meetings on the following dates:
There will also be two public hearings on the budget and tax rate. You can sign up to speak at SASpeakUp.com: