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Bexar County commissioners are working to keep the property tax rate the same at nearly 30-cents per $100 valuation to fund next year's nearly $3 billion spending plan.
The fiscal year budget would take effect Oct. 1, but there are still commissioners' meetings and budget workshops and public hearings ahead before it will be adopted.
County Judge Peter Sakai said his online survey and town halls with citizens made clear their top three spending priorities.
"One, transportation and flood control. Two, affordable housing. Three, law enforcement," he told the commissioner's court during their courthouse meeting on Monday.
More than half of the budget is spent on law enforcement, the jail, and the courts. Sakai directly called on Sheriff Javier Salazar to continue to work to curb overtime staffing costs at the jail, consistently packed with around 5,000 inmates. The overtime cost there is one of the biggest reoccurring drains on county finances. The county has budgeted $15 million in overtime costs for the coming year.
Salazar pledged to continue his efforts on the problem, but he has said in the past the jail population and the overtime costs to staff are not helped by the state's slow pickup of inmates that should be in state prisons, along with the many inmates that should be in a mental health facility.
Precinct 3 County Commissioner Grant Moody expressed his support for the increased spending on law enforcement, including a proposal to add 22 sheriff's deputies.
The county will have to fund more of the basics — like access to health care and food — because of federal cuts. The San Antonio Food Bank is suffering from those cuts as demand continues among those facing food insecurity, and the situation could worsen if an economic downturn comes because of inflation and tariffs.
Precinct 2 County Commissioner Rebecca Clay-Flores seized on the federal cuts: "A huge part of this is the negative Trump effect and people really need to recognize that. That whoever you voted for or if you didn't vote, then you're part of the problem."
Existing property values are down, but thanks to growth there are added properties the county can tax. Most of the nearly $7 billion in added taxable value comes from new sprawling residential subdivisions in the county.
About 80% of the county budget comes from property tax revenue. Sakai said the county will also fund the budget with strategic funds and grants as it prioritizes spending on transportation and flood control, affordable housing, law enforcement, emergency preparedness, health and food access, workforce development, and on the street outreach to the homeless.
The proposed budget also includes a 2% cost of living increase for the county's 5,000 employees, but Precinct 2 County Commissioner Justin Rodriguez and Precinct 4 Commissioner Tommy Calvert urged their fellow commissioners and the budget office to consider a bigger bump to keep up with inflation.
