Facing a widening budget deficit, the next San Antonio City Council may have to make some hard budget decisions.
Facing a widening budget deficit, the next San Antonio City Council may have to make some hard budget decisions.
While city revenue growth is lagging more than expected, the city is facing a small deficit in the current budget’s general fund. Though city staff said the current budget year’s $2.4 million deficit is “manageable,” that gap is set to expand quickly in years to come as expenses outpace growth.
They forecast the deficit will grow to $30.8 million in Fiscal Year 2026 and $148.3 million tin Fiscal Year 2027.
“So, we’ve got to align those things, and that means we’re going to have to reduce spending,” City Manager Erik Walsh told council members in a Wednesday briefing.
City council’s official budget discussions aren’t scheduled to start until June 27 with a “trial budget” and council goal-setting session.
By that point, there will be at least five new faces on the city council, replacing the departing Mayor Ron Nirenberg, Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia (D4), Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda (D6), Councilman Manny Pelaez (D8) and Councilman John Courage (D9).
Councilwoman Sukh Kaur (D1) is in a runoff for her seat.
KSAT headed to Brackenridge Park to get San Antonio residents’ opinions on where the council should start saving.
Several people KSAT spoke with pointed to the 61.6% of the general fund budget taken up by police and fire.
“These are all super tiny. There’s not really much money going to, like, things that people need,” said Hannah Wilkes, pointing to the other city departments in a graph of the city’s budget. “And yes, we do need police and fire, but I just think that that’s, like, way more of the budget.”
Though the San Antonio Police ($601.4 million) and San Antonio Fire ($401.5 million) budgets are large, cutting them comes with complications.
Both SAPD officers and SAFD firefighters have union contracts that lock in pay raises years ahead of time. State law also punishes cities for spending less on police than they did the year before, effectively blocking an overall decrease.
Residents in the most recent budget survey also ranked police service as the second-highest budget priority. Fire and medical services are ranked sixth.
There could be room for the city to raise the property tax rate without triggering an election to get voter approval, though that could prove to be an even thornier issue for the city council.
City staff are also reviewing four city departments to find ways to cut costs, time or improve performance: Parks and Recreation, San Antonio Metropolitan Health Services, Human Services and Public Works.
Walsh said the staff expects to build any recommendations from the review process into the budget.
More recent City Hall coverage on KSAT:
- City looks to trim budget amid deficit projections in coming years
- District 9 voters head into city council runoff election with different to-do lists for candidates
- San Antonio City Council approves creation of pedestrian and bike safety commission
