Fiscal Year 2024 Proposed Budget

Published on August 10, 2023

Fiscal Year 2024 Proposed Budget provides property tax relief, keeps San Antonio safe, enhances quality of life and improves customer service.

SAN ANTONIO (August 10, 2023) – Today, City Manager Erik Walsh presented the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Proposed Budget to the Mayor and Council. The Proposed FY 2024 Budget is $3.7 Billion. It includes the day-to-day services that residents have come to enjoy and rely on, from parks and libraries to garbage collection and recycling, while also making major long-term investments to provide property tax relief, keep San Antonio safe, enhance quality of life, and improve customer service.

“While providing significant property tax relief for the second year in a row, this budget increases our investment in public safety, including a boost of 26 percent to the Animal Care Services budget. Kudos to Erik and his entire budget team for their hard work and dedication to strong fiscal management,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg.

Next year’s spending plan aims to address our community’s greatest needs as identified by the City Council and the residents themselves. Many of these challenges cannot be addressed in just one year, so the funding is part of a multi-year commitment to help San Antonio thrive.

“Real change requires sustained focus,” City Manager Erik Walsh said. “This year’s proposed budget is a commitment to invest in long-term solutions to some of San Antonio’s most critical issues, as identified by the City Council and our residents. I encourage all San Antonians to join us at an upcoming town hall meeting to learn about the proposed budget, get answers to their questions and share their feedback.”

Property Tax Relief

The budget increases the City’s homestead exemption to 20 percent, the maximum allowed by state law, and slightly decreases the City’s tax rate. The budget maintains all existing exemptions, including the over-65 and disabled person exemptions of $85,000 each and the senior property tax freeze. In total, the budget forgoes $134.5 million in property tax revenue to the homeowners of San Antonio in 2024.

Keep San Antonio Safe

To boost community safety, 105 new officers are added. 100 officers will enhance proactive patrols and five new officers will be assigned to the training academy to graduate more cadets. The City will see 32 new firefighters and paramedics, one new EMS unit for Fire Station 40 and enhanced EMS coverage to the South Side of San Antonio after the closing of the Texas Vista Hospital.

Animal Care Services adds 15 positions to focus on the safety of our community and the wellbeing of our pet population. With the additional resources, the department will cut response times to its roughly 3,500 annual bite cases nearly in half. ACS will increase compliance by owners of dogs that have been deemed dangerous by conducting additional inspections, and it will respond to more critical calls, including those that involve aggressive dogs, neglect, and cruelty. The budget implements year one of a 3-year strategy to respond to 100 percent of critical calls.

Enhance Quality of Life

The proposed budget invests $137 million in building and repairing streets and sidewalks and constructing voter-approved bond projects. An additional $15.3 million will enhance street markings, crosswalks and traffic signals. It also cleans up non-service alleyways that are not used for trash pickup or utilities. It also introduces a 3-year program to install shades at 61 playgrounds across the city.

Our comprehensive approach to homelessness will make investments to clean up 700 encampments, shelter 400 individuals and keep people in their homes.

The City will focus on preserving affordable homes, expanding homeownership access and prioritizing Tenants’ Rights through a $41 million investment.

Adding 14new ACS positions will increase rescue opportunities and adoptions and promote responsible pet ownership. Funding is also added to achieve 44,000 surgeries in 2024.

Improve Customer Service

Four positions are added for the Good Neighbor Program and Dangerous Assessment Response Teams (DART). The overall goal of the programs is to bring properties into compliance and connect individuals with services when needed. The Good Neighbor program addresses single residential properties with 12 or more calls (911 and 311) in the past 90 days through a multi-departmental, coordinated approach. The Dangerous Assessment Response Team targets and abates commercial and residential nuisance properties that have a documented history of habitual criminal or code violations of at least two years.  

The proposed budget also funds the Enhanced Library Card, which includes a photo of the library patron and will be available at all 29 branch libraries. 

The City of San Antonio is inviting residents to participate in a series of town hall meetings during the month of August. City Manager Erik Walsh, Deputy City Manager Maria Villagomez, and staff from key departments will share highlights from the proposed budget and answer questions from residents.

The town hall meetings are an opportunity to gather feedback from residents about the proposed budget for the City’s fiscal year 2024, which begins on October 1, 2023. City Council will vote on the budget on September 14, 2023.

A complete schedule for FY 2024 Proposed Budget town hall meetings is shown below. 

The City will also host two public hearings regarding the 2024 Ad Valorem Tax Rate and the FY 2024 Proposed Budget. 

The hearing information is shown below.

Learn more about the proposed budget at SA.gov/budget.