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San Antonio City Council will consider major raise for city manager following charter election

City Manager Erik Walsh speaking at an event for the San Antonio International Airport's new terminal groundbreaking.
Josh Peck
/
TPR
City Manager Erik Walsh speaking at an event for the San Antonio International Airport's new terminal groundbreaking.

The San Antonio City Council will consider giving City Manager Erik Walsh a nearly $100,000 raise on Thursday, just weeks after voters eliminated a salary cap for the position.

The city council will also vote to give him a monthly car allowance of $500 — a yearly value of $6,000 — and to make his term indefinite. Under the previous rule, the city manager could serve no more than eight years.

Council members will vote on giving Walsh a salary of $461,000. His current maximum base salary is $374,000, which is 10 times the lowest-paid salaried city employee.

Voters approved Proposition C in November’s City Charter Election 54-46, removing caps on the city manager’s salary and tenure voters imposed in 2018.

Prop C advocates said the city council needed the authority to take the steps they saw fit to retain talent in the city manager’s role, including setting competitive salaries and holding onto city managers as long as they wanted to.

Opponents, including the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association, said the limits were intended to ensure transparency and accountability for one of the most powerful positions in city government.

If council approves it, the new salary will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025.

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