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The San Antonio City Council held in-depth conversations about three city departments on Tuesday: the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD), San Antonio Fire Department (SAFD), and Municipal Court.
The departments collectively make up more than $1 billion of the city’s $1.69 billion general fund budget.
One of the biggest subjects of conversation was the number of new proactive patrol police officers to be added in 2026 and their associated costs.
San Antonio Police Department
SAPD has a proposed 2026 general fund budget of $630.6 million, $27 million higher than 2025, and nearly $180 million higher than SAPD’s 2019 budget.
The department employs 2,893 uniform staff, 141 Park Police, 44 Airport Police, and 992 civilians.
SAPD’s 2025 average emergency response time was five minutes and 57 seconds, 25 seconds faster than the goal for the year. The department’s 2026 goal is six minutes.
City council members debated how many, if any, new proactive patrol officers to add in 2026.
The city established a five-year plan that began in 2024 to add 360 new proactive patrol officers so that patrol officers are spending 60% of their time on patrol and 40% on-call. Also, 165 patrol officers have been added so far, and 49% of officer time was spent on patrol in 2025.
The 2026 trial budget City Manager Erik Walsh presented to the council in June didn’t include any new proactive patrol officers, but 25 were included in the most recent proposed budget after complaints from several council members.
Council members from districts 7, 8, 9, and 10 said the 25 new positions weren’t enough, and instead asked for 65.
Adding 25 officers comes at a cost of $1.4 million in the first year. The 40 additional officers would cost $3.5 million more in the first year and $5.9 million in the second year.
District 10 Councilmember Marc Whyte said more needed to be done to reduce crime, even given falling crime rates.
“We … would love to see less crime in this city,” Whyte said.
Crime fell in all major categories in the first seven months of 2025 compared to the same time in 2024: a 9% drop in violent crime, a 12% drop in crimes against society — like weapons or drug crimes — and a 20% drop in property crimes.
McManus agreed with Whyte that getting to a 60:40 ratio between proactive patrols and administrative work would make San Antonio residents safer, and said getting to that level faster would be better.
“Yes, it’s important,” McManus said.
Interim District 2 Councilmember Castillo-Anguiano said adding more officers has diminishing returns and that there were better places to invest time and money to improve public safety like lighting.
District 4 Councilmember Edward Mungia suggested increasing the number of officers in specialized units like the San Antonio Fear Free Environment (SAFFE) and San Antonio Community Outreach and Resiliency Effort (SA CORE) might be a better use of city resources to reduce crime and bring down the number of calls going to SAPD’s patrol unit.
Beyond Castillo-Anguiano and Mungia’s comments, there was little opposition during the meeting to adding 65 additional patrol officers.
The department is also proposing to add 28 uniform supervisors to staff the new South Flores Police Substation and will fill 65 vacant positions across the Airport Police and Park Police with new SAPD officers.
SAPD is also planning to generate new revenues in 2026.
The department is proposing new alarm fee permits for commercial and residential properties, higher unpermitted alarm fees for commercial properties, and an increase to the cost for private companies to hire off-duty officers at city facilities that are projected to generate $2 million.
The last time the department raised any of those fees was 2010.
SAPD is proposing a $2 million reduction in overtime and $458,141 in savings from eliminated civilian positions.
The SA CORE is a mental health response program that includes three teams made up of police officers, medics, and clinicians.
It has expanded significantly from its initial pilot program in 2022 and began running 24/7 last July.
The program has led to nearly 600 residents scheduling appointments with The Center for Health Care Services and only one arrest between October 2024 and July 2025.
On immigration, McManus said the number of times federal immigration officials had asked SAPD for assistance with enforcement actions this year was “negligible.”
San Antonio Fire Department
SAFD has a proposed 2026 general fund budget of $428.8 million, $28 million higher than 2025, and more than $100 million higher than the department’s 2019 budget.
Most of the 2026 budget growth comes from 8% salary increases from the collective bargaining agreement between the city and the San Antonio Professional Firefighters’ Association.
SAFD employs 1,880 uniform positions and 128 civilian positions.
The department will receive $1.3 million in new funds to hire 12 new firefighters to staff enhanced squad units at two of the busiest fire stations on the Westside and the Southside. The enhanced squads are designed to be efficient and fast-moving to handle certain medical calls.
Another $1.4 million will be used to conduct a department needs assessment to determine what SAFD will need in staffing, equipment, and facilities in the coming years.
SAFD will also use $291,000 to launch a drone program with eight drones to assist with emergency response. SAFD has borrowed drones from SAPD in the past.
The department is proposing some cuts, including a $1 million reduction in staff overtime pay.
The department’s average response time increased once again and has increased by nearly 40 seconds since 2020.
Fire Chief Valerie Frausto said the slowing response was due to population growth, and San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association President Joe Jones said the only way to bring response times down was to add more staff and a fourth shift.
City Manager Erik Walsh said SAFD’s department needs assessment would help the city determine how best to improve fire and EMS services.
Municipal Court
The San Antonio Municipal Court has a proposed 2026 general fund budget of $13.9 million, $200,000 less than 2025 and $2.4 million more than the court’s 2019 budget.
One of the issues the court handles is citations for loose and dangerous dogs, dog bites, and other pet-related city code violations.
The number of criminal citations spiked to an all-time high in 2025: 8,625 criminal filings, triple the number of filings in 2024 and six times the number in 2023.
Civil citation levels have remained relatively stable, with just shy of 3,000 in 2025.
The Municipal Court aims to raise $438,120 in new revenue in 2026 through the increase in fines for the top 10 parking violations.
Fines would increase by $20 for violations such as parking facing oncoming traffic, handicap parking violations, parking in a loading zone, and parking within 15 feet of a fire hydrant.
These fines were last changed in 2009.
