San Antonio City Manager Sheryl Sculley has presented the city council with a $2.5 billion proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2016 which begins in October of this year. The city is increasing funding for infrastructure projects while slightly lowering the property tax rate.
This is the city’s largest budget ever. The $1.1 billion general fund for city operation and projects is about 5 percent more than last year. Sixty-six percent of that goes to police and fire. The next largest expense if for streets, sidewalks, and drainage at $80 million. According to City Manager Sheryl Sculley the city has a little over $1 billion in needed infrastructure repair.
“The needs will always exceed the dollars available and it’s up to the council on behalf of the community then to prioritize those projects and do the most we can with the dollars available,” Sculley said.
Street maintenance projects are getting a boost of 56 percent, from $41 million to $64 million. Another $15 million is proposed for sidewalks, and $12 million for drainage projects.
The city manager also recommends cutting the city property tax rate by three-quarters of a cent after council members said they’re concerned about skyrocketing property appraisals. That’s about $6 million in taxpayer savings but only boils down to a reduction of about $11 per year from the average homeowner’s tax bill.
“The city’s portion of the property tax bill in Bexar County is less than quarter of the overall bill. Property owners pay more than half their taxes to school districts.
The proposed budget calls for city workers to receive a 2 percent cost of living increase and the minimum wage for city workers could be bumped to $13 per hour. Right now about 1300 city employees earn below $13 and hour.
Ray Lopez, District 6 City Councilmember, said the pay raise is a good start. “I know we talk a lot about a living wage. What we need is a quality of life wage, where folks don’t have to have a second of third job to make ends meet.”
The budget also calls for 1,534 new body cameras for police which would cost $3 million. A gunshot detection system is also recommended.
The budget is balanced but doesn’t include costs from the still pending police and fire contracts. If a contract is not resolved, Sculley says $7 million would need to be cut from next year’s budget.
“If no agreement is reached that means we’ll have to reduce city services to accommodate their expensive health care benefits,” Sculley said.
About $8.5 million was originally slated for a one-time lump sum bonus payment to police officers and fire fighters. But when the police union and city didn’t reach a contract agreement Scully shifted the money to the street maintenance budget.
Two public hearings on the proposed budget are scheduled for August 19 and September 2. Council members are expected to adopt a budget on September 10th.
