SAN ANTONIO — Improving public safety is among the top priorities outlined in the City of San Antonio’s proposed $3.7 billion budget.
City Manager Erik Walsh presented the proposed fiscal year 2024 budget during Thursday’s City Council meeting. The plan highlighted property tax relief, community safety, quality of life enhancements, and improving customer service.
The budget calls for allocating $570.6 million for the San Antonio Police Department. SAPD currently has 2,588 authorized sworn personnel.
One of the goals is to add 100 patrol officers and five additional officers to serve as instructors at the police academy.
The proposed budget aims to add 360 officers over five years.
District 8 Councilmember Manny Pelaez hopes the recruitment of new officers leads to improved emergency response times.
“I think we’re at 6 minutes and change. How about you cut that in half because everybody understands that every second after a 911 call matters,” Pelaez said.
Pastor Patrick Jones is a community advocate who works with families impacted by violent crime across San Antonio. He’s pushing for the creation of more outreach programs that target people of all ages.
“The city needs to look at putting a little bit more money into our communities, especially the communities where they’re having a lot of the violence,” Jones said.
Nearly $27 million is set for operating Animal Care Services.
ACS would add 15 positions to increase safety for the community and pets. The goal is to reduce response times for its roughly 3,500 annual bite cases in half.
“One of the things we heard really loudly is we need night and weekend service so I’m hoping that with this additional funds for ACS that actually does increase,” said District 1 Councilmember Dr. Sukh Kaur.
Another goal is to boost the number of personnel to conduct more compliance inspections of owners who have violent dogs.
“It’s going to require a lot more leg work but we hope by having more officers in the field, we hope to be able to get the impact that we’re desiring.”
Homeowners are set benefit from the City's 20% homestead exemption, with a slight decease to the tax rate.
More than $130 million would be used for projects dealing with sidewalks and streets.
The proposed budget also strives to clean up 700 homeless encampments and provide housing for those in need.
The public will have several opportunities to learn more about the proposed budget during town halls and public hearings before the City Council votes on the package in September.
To learn more about the town hall dates, go here.