Public safety departments would see some of the largest spending increases in San Antonio’s proposed $4.4 billion fiscal year 2027 budget, even as city officials look for millions of dollars in cuts across city government in one of the most difficult budget cycles in decades.
The proposed budget would increase general fund spending for the San Antonio Police Department by 7%, the fire department by 5.3% and Animal Care Services by 12.3%, reflecting a continued emphasis on public safety as the city looks to reduce spending elsewhere.
But the increases do not necessarily translate into the expansions some City Council members have sought.
Instead, the proposal largely maintains recent public safety investments while adding personnel for specific needs and restructuring some operations to save money, including millions of dollars in reduced overtime spending within the police and fire departments.
Patrol staffing remains a hot topic
SAPD would receive $676.5 million from the general fund under the proposed budget, a 7% increase from its previous $632 million budget while adding 49 officer positions.
None of those positions, however, would add to the department’s patrol ranks, despite an ongoing debate that carried over from last year’s budget cycle over how quickly the city should hire officers to meet a staffing goal established by a 2023 analysis.
The independent analysis commissioned by the city and completed by Weiss Consulting recommended adding 360 patrol officers over several years to shift how officers spend their time. It recommended a goal of officers spending roughly 40% of their time responding to calls for service and 60% on proactive policing and other discretionary duties.
At the time of the study, that ratio was essentially reversed.
The city initially kept pace with its plan, funding 100 additional patrol officers in fiscal year 2024 and another 65 the following year. But amid growing financial constraints, last year’s budget added just 25.
At the time, several council members pushed to hire more officers regardless of the cost.
The issue resurfaced ahead of this year’s budget cycle, when council members Marina Alderete Gavito (D7), Misty Spears (D9) and Marc Whyte (D10) filed a three-signature memo in March calling on the city to prioritize another 65 patrol officers in fiscal year 2027.
Despite the push, no patrol officers were included in the proposed budget for 2026-27.
Instead, 27 of the 49 new SAPD positions would be added ahead of the opening of Terminal C at San Antonio International Airport in 2028. The officers would begin academy training next year and are expected to be partially funded through a federal grant.
The other 22 positions would come from transferring funding for vacant Park Police positions to SAPD as the city continues consolidating law enforcement responsibilities at city parks under the department.
The decision drew criticism Thursday from Whyte and Spears, who both questioned why the city was increasing public safety spending without adding more patrol officers.
“More officers on the street helps deter crime, keep our citizens safe,” Whyte said. “That’s our number one priority. Why in the world, in this $1.7 billion budget, is there not money for that?”
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Meanwhile, the proposed budget would reassign 15 existing patrol personnel to other parts of the department as SAPD looks to reduce overtime and make greater use of civilian employees and technology.
Six patrol detectives who primarily collect evidence at crime scenes would move to the Homicide and Special Victims units, where the city says the additional investigators would help balance caseloads and reduce overtime. Three new civilian crime investigators would take over evidence collection in the field.
SAPD would also double the size of its drone detail by reallocating nine officers from patrol. The unit, currently made up of one sergeant and eight officers, would expand its coverage to as much as 20 hours a day, seven days a week, as the department explores using drones as “first responders” and more proactively to prevent crime.
City officials say the reassignments would not reduce patrol operations because of efficiencies expected from changes to officers’ shift schedules included in the tentative collective bargaining agreement with the San Antonio Police Officers’ Association.
Officers are expected to finish voting on the agreement later this month; if ratified, it would go to City Council for approval in September. The proposed budget already anticipates a 4% pay increase for officers.
The staffing changes are part of $5.4 million in reductions identified within SAPD even as the department’s overall budget grows. That includes $2.4 million in overtime savings and another $974,000 in police overtime for Alamodome events that would instead be covered by Alamodome revenue.
Fire adds positions, cuts overtime
The San Antonio Fire Department would receive $451.2 million from the general fund under the proposed budget, a 5.3% increase from the current fiscal year.
Much of the department’s budget proposal centers on a similar balancing act: adding personnel and replacing aging equipment while finding savings elsewhere, particularly through reductions in overtime.
The budget would add nine uniform positions, including eight intended to reduce the department’s reliance on overtime. The city estimates spending $1.3 million on the eight permanent positions would allow SAFD to reduce overtime by $1.4 million.
City Manager Erik Walsh called the move an example of how adding employees can sometimes reduce overall personnel costs.
“Overtime generally is cheaper than full-time positions,” Walsh said. “But sometimes, and the fire department’s a great example, we’ve got eight firefighters that are detailed to the training academy for training purposes for both incumbent firefighters and cadets. We’re backfilling their positions in the fire stations, so we can eliminate that overtime, add the positions and end up saving money.”
The ninth new uniform position would be a fire inspector added to comply with a new state law requiring annual inspections of automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, at schools. The city plans to offset the cost of that position through a new school inspection fee.
The proposal also includes several new or increased fire prevention fees after a city review found about 40% of the program’s workload was not recovering its costs. The changes are part of a broader push in the proposed budget to increase revenue from city services as officials work to close the two-year budget shortfall.
The spending increase also accounts for compensation already required under the firefighters’ existing collective bargaining agreement, including a 5% pay increase proposed for fiscal year 2027.
Altogether, the proposed budget identifies $3.7 million in reductions within SAFD, including $2.9 million in overtime. In addition to the savings from the eight new positions, the city expects to eliminate another $1.5 million in overtime through changes to how leave policies are implemented and managed.
Another $743,000 would be cut through a line-by-line review of department spending.
ACS sees major increase
Animal Care Services would see the largest percentage increase of the three public safety departments, with its general fund budget growing 12.3% to $38 million.
Unlike the staffing changes proposed for police and fire, much of the increase at ACS is tied to opening a new veterinary hospital and continuing investments made under the department’s five-year strategic plan, which the City Council adopted in 2023 amid persistent concerns over loose and dangerous dogs.
The proposed budget would add 10 positions and $1.9 million to operate the new 14,500-square-foot veterinary hospital now under construction at ACS’ main campus. The $15 million facility was funded through the city’s 2022 bond program and is expected to open in early spring 2027.
The hospital will include space for spay-and-neuter procedures and other surgeries, enhanced diagnostic and treatment services, animal intake, training and the city’s community cat program. The existing 3,000-square-foot clinic will also be renovated, with that work expected to be completed in November 2027.
The department is also planning another increase in spay and neuter surgeries, a major component of the city’s strategy to reduce the number of stray and roaming animals.
ACS estimates it will provide nearly 43,000 surgeries next year, up from about 23,600 in fiscal year 2023.
Beginning Oct. 1, the city plans to turn operation of its Eastside spay-and-neuter clinic over to nonprofit Spay Neuter Network. The change would allow ACS to reassign nine existing employees and other operating resources from the clinic to the new veterinary hospital.
The proposed budget is not final.
City Council members will spend the coming weeks reviewing the spending plan and proposing amendments before adopting the fiscal year 2027 budget in September.
This story first appeared in the San Antonio Report.