Five San Antonio City Council members are calling for the creation of a permanent Budget and Finance Committee to provide year-round oversight of city spending and identify potential savings ahead of future budget cycles.
The proposal comes nearly two months after City Council approved a budget that included $90 million in spending reductions over two years and the city’s first property tax rate increase in more than 30 years.
District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte is leading the effort alongside council members Sukh Kaur (D1), Edward Mungia (D4), Marina Alderete Gavito (D7) and Misty Spears (D9).
In a special meeting request submitted Tuesday, they called for a special City Council session no later than Dec. 3 to consider an ordinance establishing the committee.
If approved, the standing committee would consist of five council members tasked with reviewing city expenditures, financial policies, revenue sources and city assets throughout the year, rather than around the annual budget process.
Whyte said the proposal is intended to give council members more time and information to evaluate spending decisions before adopting a budget.
“We as a city government here in San Antonio have got to spend our citizens’ tax dollars in a more efficient manner,” he said. “This committee will be charged with looking at how we can be more efficient with our tax dollars on a year-round basis.”
While city staff develops the budget throughout the year, City Council receives periodic financial briefings and weighs in on budget priorities during the spring and early summer. But much of council’s detailed review takes place between August, when the city manager presents the proposed budget, and September, when the final spending plan is adopted.
Whyte argues that the condensed timeline leaves council members with limited opportunities to examine alternative spending scenarios and identify potential efficiencies.
“The entire budget process is really crammed into six weeks between August 1 and the middle of September when we vote on a budget,” he said. “That’s not enough time to fully look at different budgeting scenarios and really comb through all the information that I think council should before we finalize a budget.”
Whyte pointed to discussions about potential across-the-board departmental reductions that surfaced days before the September budget vote as an example of the kinds of financial scenarios council could examine earlier.
“I think running scenarios like that throughout the year, so that we have that information going into the budget process, is what’s going to be helpful,” Whyte said.
Under the proposal, the committee would examine departmental spending, evaluate the effectiveness of city programs and review city-owned assets to determine whether they are being used to their full financial potential.
It would also monitor the implementation of budget reforms adopted by council and provide recommendations ahead of the annual budget process. The special meeting request also calls for expanding opportunities for public input on city finances outside the traditional budget season.
The committee would serve in an advisory capacity, meaning any proposed changes to city spending or financial policies would still require approval from the full council.
Whyte, who opposed the city’s recent property tax increase, said he hopes the committee could help identify efficiencies and additional revenue sources that would eliminate the need for future tax increases.
“My hope is that the committee will find ways that we can be more efficient with our money and also at the same time create more revenue for the city,” Whyte said. “But more general than that, success is spending the citizens’ money in a way that most directly benefits their day-to-day quality of life.”
This story first appeared in the San Antonio Report.