San Antonio City Hall, right, is located next to the Kallison block, visible at middle left, and Stumberg Square, the low building visible at left in the background. Developer GrayStreet Partners plans to renovate Stumberg Square and the Kallison block. Aug. 3, 2023.
Billy Calzada/Staff photographer
San Antonio Express-News
Molly Smith, Megan Rodriguez, Staff writers
City leaders plan to dramatically increase funding for Animal Care Services following two brutal dog attacks on San Antonio streets so far this year.
“The priority has got to be providing a level of safety in the neighborhoods,” City Manager Erik Walsh said. “The expectation to the average citizen is that they’re not getting chased or their kid is not getting chased” by roaming dogs.
Under the city’s proposed budget of $3.7 billion for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, ACS would receive $27 million, a 26 percent increase over this year’s allocation. It’s the biggest percentage increase among city departments.
The spending plan also includes money to hire 105 police officers, part of a previously announced plan to expand the force by 300 over the next three years.
ACS plans to hire 15 additional officers, including eight to investigate bite cases and to ensure that owners of dogs that have been designated as dangerous are complying with city regulations.
The additional staff is expected to help the department answer more service calls from residents. Currently, ACS responds to only 40 percent of such calls.
“It’s the only city service that you call and you’re not going to get a response the majority of the time,” Walsh said.
Walsh will brief the City Council on the overall budget — the largest in San Antonio history — on Thursday. The proposed spending plan is 9 percent larger than the current city budget.
San Antonio saw the biggest population spike of the nation’s 10 largest cities from July 2020 to July 2022, according to the U.S. census. As more people move in, the city has to provide more services, raising its costs and resulting in bigger budgets.
Council is set to adopt the budget on Sept. 14.
The budget proposal also includes more money for sidewalk repairs and park improvements, as well as raises for city workers.
The plan sets the city property tax rate at $0.54159 per $100 in assessed value, just slightly below the current rate of $0.54161.
San Antonio property owners will get significantly more tax relief from the 20 percent homestead exemption that the City Council approved in June, a move that will mostly benefit homeowners.
The budget, however, sets aside funds to cover about 300 seniors’ participation in a new program that will provide a $400 cut to the city portion of their property tax bill in exchange for 55 volunteer hours with the city.
Under the proposed budget, San Antonians will see an increase in their trash pickup fees — the only city service rate hike built into the budget.
The city has been staving off a rate increase for the past few years but has run through its reserved funding.
Residents currently pay between $18 and $30 a month for trash pickup, depending on the size of their garbage cans. The monthly fee would go up to between $19 and nearly $35 next year.
“We have knowingly held that flat through the COVID years,” Walsh said. “Our expenses for labor and trucks and disposal and everything else has gone up.”
Walsh said the city will encourage people to use smaller cans to save money.
Public safety
Police and fire protection would take up 60.8 percent of the city’s $1.6 billion general fund, which pays for basic city services, such as parks, streets and libraries. It’s been a longstanding city policy to keep public safety funding below the 66 percent threshold.
Sales and property tax revenues and contributions from city-owned CPS Energy and San Antonio Water System feed the general fund, which is part of the city’s overall $3.7 billion budget.
The 105 officers the department plans to hire would be the largest-ever boost to San Antonio’s police force, Walsh said. Five of the new hires will work as police academy instructors. All of the others will be assigned to patrol.
The fire department would see 32 new positions, half of which would be emergency medical personnel to help cover the Northeast and Southwest sides. The extra manpower is needed because of this spring’s closure of the Texas Vista Medical Center on the South Side. With the hospital shuttered, EMS technicians now have to drive patients to downtown hospitals or the South Texas Medical Center on the North Side.
Streets, sidewalks and parks
The city put $137.5 million toward streets and sidewalks in the proposed budget, a figure that includes a major increase in the number of sidewalk repairs.
About $7 million would go toward repairing sidewalks that have become unpassable because of tree roots and cracks. That’s up from $1 million this year.
Next year’s funds should be enough to repair 16 miles of sidewalks, Walsh said.
The budget proposal also sets aside $12.5 million for 29 miles of new sidewalks.
And the city also wants to make park playgrounds more accessible in the hot summer months. More than 60 parks across San Antonio have no shade cover. The city is looking to start a five-year program to create shade at each of the parks, starting with the construction of 13 shade structures at 12 parks in next year’s budget.
“It’s something we should be doing, especially given that nobody can use a playground in the middle of summer, or even in the evening in the middle of summer, because it’s too hot,” Walsh said.