Last week, members of San Antonio’s City Council were shown the mammoth $2.7 billion, FY 2018 city budget and offered at-first-glance comments. The budget was crafted through a so-called “equity lens” — some districts are due to receive more funding to address long-term imbalances in infrastructure and services.
The city’s top example is street improvements, which also ranked as the No. 1 priority among 6,000 survey results the city gathered from citizens in April and May.
In response, city staff is recommending an additional $30 million in street upgrades — for a total of $99 million — go toward Districts 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10, where the average street conditions are considered substandard. City Manager Sheryl Sculley told council members at last week’s meeting that other districts won’t see a decrease in their streets funding.
Starting tonight, the public gets its chance to weigh in on streets and all other aspects of the budget — from public safety to parks to neighborhood services. Tonight’s meeting will be held 5:30-7:30 at Phil Hardberger Urban Ecology Center, 8400 N.W. Military Highway.
Five other community meetings will take place over the next two weeks across the city and mostly in the evening — one will be held in Spanish on a Saturday morning. During these two-hour meetings, citizens will be able to ask questions directly to city directors representing every city department.
The City Council also will gather for its own work sessions where they will dive into the nitty gritty aspects of the budget as well.
On Sept. 14, the Council is expected to adopt the $2.7 billion budget — the largest in this city’s history and 5 percent higher than the current budget.
We’ll be following the discussions both at the community meetings and council work sessions.
Below are budget-related links; and the meeting schedule for the coming weeks:
Click here to download the 426-page report.
More info on the budget process.
A calendar of the events scheduled.
SASpeakUp — Other ways to give feedback the budget
Budget schedule
City Council work session
2 p.m. Aug. 15, Tuesday, City Council Complex, 105 Main Plaza
Streets, sidewalks, drainage, transportation and capital improvements; debt management plan
Community meeting
5:30-7:30 p.m. Aug. 15, Tuesday, Phil Hardberger Urban Ecology Center, 8400 N.W. Military Highway
City Council work session
2 p.m. Aug. 16, Wednesday, City Council Complex, 105 Main Plaza
Fire and police
Community meeting
5:30-7:30 p.m. Aug. 17, Thursday, Copernicus Community Center, 5003 Lord Road
Community meeting
7-8 p.m. Aug. 21, Monday, The Tool Yard, 10303 Tool Yard
City Council work session
2 p.m. Aug. 22, Tuesday, City Council Complex, 105 Main Plaza
Planning; neighborhood and housing services; historic preservation; sustainability; Metro Health; human services & delegate agencies
Community meeting
5:30-8 p.m. Aug. 22, Tuesday, Central Library, 600 Soledad St.
City Council work session
2 p.m. Aug. 23, Wednesday, City Council Complex, 105 Main Plaza
Municipal court; parks; library
Community meeting (evento en español)
9 a.m.-noon Aug. 26, Saturday, 4838 Old Pearsall Road
Community meeting
5:30-7:30 p.m. Aug. 28, Monday, Garza Community Center, 5627 Mira Vista
City Council work session
2 p.m. Aug. 29, Tuesday, City Council Complex, 105 Main Plaza
World Heritage Office; Convention & Sports Facilities; Arts & Culture; Tricentennial
City Council work session
2-5 p.m. Aug. 30, Wednesday, City Council Complex, 105 Main Plaza
Public meeting immediately after.
City Council work session
2 p.m. Sept. 5, Tuesday, City Council Complex, 105 Main Plaza
Employee benefits and compensation; information technology and smart cities
City Council work session
2-5 p.m. Sept. 6, Wednesday, City Council Complex, 105 Main Plaza
Airport; administration of the city; public meeting immediately after
City Council work session
2-5 p.m., Sept. 13, Wednesday, City Council Complex, 105 Main Plaza
City Council meeting
9 a.m. Sept. 14, City Council chambers
Council scheduled to adopt budget.
This article was originally published by the H.E. Butt Foundation’s Folo Media initiative in 2017.