The City of San Antonio held a budget work session on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, from 9:01 AM to 12:13 PM, to discuss proposed fiscal year 2026 budgets for the Department of Human Services (DHS), Metro Health, and the San Antonio Public Library. Presentations covered programmatic overviews, proposed efficiencies from the Comprehensive Budget Review (CBR), and changes to funding processes. Council members raised concerns about public safety, delegate agency funding, senior services, and the impact of federal grant reductions. No formal votes were taken; the session served as a forum for discussion and direction.
Good morning. The time is now 9 01 a.m. on Tuesday, August 26th, and the City of San Antonio budget work session has called to order. Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Councilmember Corps. Councilmember Castillo Anguiano. Present. Councilmember Via Gran. Here. Councilmember Mungia. President. Councilmember Castillo. Councilmember Galvan. Councilmember Aldereta Gavito. Here. Councilmember Meza Gonzalez. Councilmember Spears. Councilmember White. Mayor Jones. Here. Thank you. Mayor, we have quorum. Thank you, Madam Clerk. This meeting is to hear about budgets for human services, health, and library departments. Eric, are you ready to begin the staff presentations? Yes, ma'am. Good morning, Mayor and Council. We'll start with a Melody, transition to Claude, and then Sukrete will wrap us up this morning. Just a reminder this is the morning session. We do have a session this afternoon with three other departments. No. Ma'am, would you lean into the mic? Thanks. There it is. Better. Thank you. Okay. All right. All right. So I look forward to your questions after the presentations. But before I get started, I want to introduce Jessica Dovellina, Deputy Human Services Director. Patrick Steck, Assistant Human Services Director for 34 more days until he transitions to the Homeless Services and Strategy Department as assistant director there. And Rebecca Flores, Human Services Education Program Administrator. So this morning, I will share an overview of the department and the fiscal year 26 proposed budget by program services. I'll also provide recommendations from the comprehensive budget review, a preview of our priorities for fiscal year 26, and a briefing and next steps for an updated delegate agency process. And so human services focus for FY 2026 is working upstream and beyond to prevent the kind of negative outcomes that we know leads to homelessness, justice involvement, family violence, and other adverse events. To do this, we provide a wide range of programs and services supporting vulnerable populations, shown here by Course Strategy Area. We get to work with 3,700 children and their families each year through our head start and early head start programs. Our youth success programs include next level youth opportunity center, ambassador internship program, and youth commissions to help strengthen low-income families. We provide emergency utility assistance, volunteer income tax assistance, and one-on-one financial counseling.