SAN ANTONIO — Early voting is underway in the state of Texas, giving people extra time to vote on their schedule ahead of the Nov. 5 election. Early voting runs Oct. 21-Nov. 1.
Whether you are voting on Election Day or the early voting period, you will have some decisions to make. In addition to deciding on the presidential race as well as several state and local races, voters in San Antonio will also decide on six City Charter amendments.
They range in topic from city employees' political activity to raising the salary of city council members and the mayor.
See below for our breakdown of the six City Charter amendments on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Proposition A: Enhancing the city's ethics process
Prop A would stregthen and enhance the city's proces of dealing with ethics. The measure would add a definition of "conflicts of interest" which is not currently defined. It would also more funding to the Ethics Review Board and would allow the board to review complaints already addressed by other agencies.
Full ballot entry:
Shall Article XIII, entitled Ethics Review Board, of the City Charter be amended to add a definition of "conflicts of interest"; require sufficient funding to the Ethics Review Board so it may perform all its assigned duties, and authorize the Ethics Review Board to accept or decline complaints that have been resolved by an entity other than the Ethics Review Board?
Proposition B: Modernizing language
This proposition would update the charter's language and replace outdated terms. The ballot measure does not specify which language would be replaced, but cites sections that contain archaic language. There's a lot of them.
Full ballot entry:
Shall the following sections of the City Charter be amended to revise or eliminate provisions which have been superseded by state law and to update archaic language to current usage: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 45, 46, 47, 49, 51, 52, 53, 53a, 54, 55, 56, 58, 67, 68, Article V.A., 69, 70, 71, 72, 75, 76, 77, 78, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 87, 89, 91, 93, 95, 96, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, Article VIII, 112, 117, 119, 121, 122, 123, 123A, 124, 125, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, and 136?
Proposition C: City Manager term and pay
This measure would remove a cap that is currently in place. The cap for salary is set at ten times the lowest paid city employee with a term limit of eight years. This ballot item would the City Council to determine the city manager's pay and term legnth.
Full ballot entry:
Shall the Charter of the City of San Antonio be amended to grant to City Council the authority to set the full terms of the City Manager’s employment including tenure and compensation?
Proposition D: City Employee political activity
City employees are currently restricted on political activity, but this measure would remove some of those limits. It would allow city employees to participate in politics as long as it was not during work hours or using city resources. The city leadership team, including senior city leaders, would still be subject to higher restrictions on political activity.
Full ballot language:
Shall the Charter of the City of San Antonio be amended to allow City employees to participate in local political activity consistent with State and Federal law while protecting employees against political retribution and maintaining a general prohibition on participation in local political activity for the city leadership team?
Proposition E: City Council pay
The proposition would increase the pay for city council members and for the mayor of San Antonio. Currently, city council members earn $45,722 and the proposition would raise it to $70,200. The mayor currently makes $61,725 per year and this would raise the salary to $87,800. The ballot measure would allow the salaries to adjust in the future based on federal guidelines of median household income for San Antonio.
Full ballot language:
Shall the Charter of the City of San Antonio be amended to set and limit the compensation for City Council members and the Mayor at $70,200 and $87,800 annually with annual future adjustments to correlate to the United States Housing and Urban Development 4-member household median income for San Antonio, and authorize a Council member or the Mayor to decline any or all of the established compensation?
Proposition F. City Council terms
This proposition would change the term length for a city council member and mayor from two years to four years. It would also change the term limits from four two-year terms to two four-year terms. The limit of eight years total would still be in place.
Full ballot language:
Shall the Charter of the City of San Antonio be amended to extend the terms of all elected members of City Council, including the Mayor, from two (2) years to four (4) years and changing the term limits from four (4) full terms to two (2) full terms while keeping the terms concurrent?
