OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

San Antonio City Council Budget Work Session - August 27, 2025

City Council — Wednesday, August 27, 2025
BodySan Antonio, Texas
SessionCity Council
DateWednesday, August 27, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 3:12:47

Transcript — Verbatim
0:04

Good afternoon.

0:05

My apologies for the uh for the delay here.

0:07

Uh the time is now 2.09 p.m.

0:09

on Wednesday, August 27th, 2025, and the City of San Antonio budget work session is called to order.

0:14

Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

0:16

Councilmember Corps.

0:18

Councilmember Castillo Angiano.

0:20

Present.

0:21

Councilmember Viegran.

0:22

Here.

0:23

Councilmember Mungia.

0:25

President.

0:26

Councilmember Castillo.

0:27

Here.

0:28

Councilmember Galván.

0:29

Here.

0:29

Councilmember Alarete Gavito.

0:31

Here.

0:32

Councilmember Mesa Gonzalez.

0:34

Councilmember Spears.

0:36

Councilmember White.

0:38

Mayor Mayor Jones.

0:39

Here.

0:39

Mayor, we have Quorum.

0:40

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

0:42

This meeting is to hear about budgets for the debt management plan, capital delivery department and capital budget, and public works department.

0:48

Eric, over to you.

0:49

Thank you, Mayor.

0:50

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

0:51

We'll start with Troy Elliott, the city's chief financial officer on our debt management plan.

0:56

Um and then transition to Mike Shannon with Capital Delivery Services.

1:00

And then finally, uh Razi will be giving his final budget presentation.

1:06

Um so ask a lot of questions on that one.

1:08

So good afternoon, Mayor, members of City Council, Troy Elliott, I'm the chief financial officer.

1:15

As Eric mentioned, I'll be kicking off the first of three presentations with the exciting debt management plan.

1:21

Um this will be probably my fourth year of doing this, so I think a lot of the presentation you see will be kind of duplicative.

1:27

I think it's um beneficial to kind of give a refresher on some of the slides and the contents of the debt management plan.

1:32

First, I'd like to start, you know, what really what is a debt management plan?

1:35

It's made up of several components that we're going to go through the presentation.

1:38

What debt do we have outstanding, what debt have we issued, how are we going to pay for that debt over time?

1:43

All the fundamental components embedded into the debt management plan and the assumptions that we that we use to make sure that we can actually pay for the debt that we have issued and any future debt that we're going to issue.

1:55

The debt management plan is really a compilation of several debt management plans.

1:59

For today, going to focus primarily on the advert lorem uh debt management plan, which is the property tax backed, as well as talk a little bit about aviation and stormwater, and that's where I'll spend the bulk of my time.

2:12

On the next slide, you'll have seen this before.

2:15

This is the primary tools or the debt that we issue as part of our debt management plan.

2:20

We issue general obligation bonds by statute, those are backed by property taxes and their voter approved.

2:27

The last time that we had our authorization for a general obligation bond was in 2022 for the 1.2 billion dollars.

2:34

That was in Mike will talk a little bit more about this, but we had the six propositions, roughly 180 plus different projects embedded in that general obligation bond.

2:43

The next three to the right, um, all three of these are not required under statute to be voted.

2:49

They are two certificates of obligations and tax notes are backed by property taxes.

2:55

Um there is a notice requirement for certificates of obligations.

2:59

Um if you remember, we came to y'all with a notice of intent to issue certificate obligations, I think in the June-July time frame.

3:06

And that basically puts a notice out there telling the the citizens that we are going to be issuing certificates of obligations for these specific projects.

3:15

The next item are tax notes.

3:17

Um those are also backed by property taxes.

3:19

They are not voter approved.

3:21

Tax notes are a little bit different and they have a shorter maturity.

3:24

We can issue um tax notes with maturities up to seven years.

3:28

We typically align in our capital improvement program um uses that are short have short maturities.

3:34

We don't want to be paying debt over a long uh period of time for something that has a useful life less than seven years.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Infrastructure█████████████████████████████████████████41%
Debt Management███████████████████19%
Budget████████8%
Engineering And Infrastructure██████6%
Public Engagement██████6%
Public Works█████5%
Transportation Infrastructure█████5%
Flooding███3%
Procedural█1%
Summary of Proceedings

San Antonio City Council Budget Work Session - August 27, 2025

The San Antonio City Council held a budget work session on August 27, 2025, to receive presentations on the Debt Management Plan, the newly formed Capital Delivery Department, and the Public Works Department. Staff presented the city's debt capacity, capital project delivery focus, and maintenance programs, and council members provided feedback on bond program frequency, stormwater revenue bonds, and the need for improved communication and project delivery.

Discussion Items

  • Debt Management Plan (Troy Elliott, CFO): The city's current debt capacity for a future general obligation bond is approximately $500 million, down from $1.2 billion in 2022 due to declining property values. The debt service tax rate has been held at 21 cents since 2004. Staff discussed options to increase capacity: adjusting the bond program frequency (e.g., every 3-4 years instead of 5), potentially increasing the debt service tax rate, or using stormwater revenue bonds for drainage projects. The next bond election is currently planned for May 2027, but staff are evaluating a possible move to 2026. A sensitivity analysis will be conducted to stress-test assumptions.
  • Capital Delivery Department (Mike Shannon): The department was reorganized from Public Works to focus solely on capital project delivery (bond programs). Priorities include delivering projects on time and within budget, improving stakeholder communication, and enhancing cost estimating. The current 2022 bond program (1.2 billion, 187 projects) is 49% complete or under construction as of July 2025, with 91% expected to be under construction or complete by September 2026. Staff highlighted the need for better communication with residents and businesses, and improved coordination with utility companies.
  • Public Works Department (Razi Hosseini): The proposed FY2026 budget is $303 million with 698 positions, including $122.4 million for street maintenance (1,464 projects), $17 million for sidewalks (21 miles of gap sidewalk), and $11.5 million for stormwater emergency repairs (including damage from June 2025 floods). Staff presented the Infrastructure Management Program (IMP) and noted a reduction of $11 million in general fund support. Council members expressed concern over the reduction in CIP and NAMP funding and requested future restoration.

Key Outcomes

  • Council members broadly supported exploring the use of stormwater revenue bonds to increase drainage project capacity, with staff to return with analysis within 30-45 days.
  • Council members expressed interest in more frequent, smaller bond programs (every 3-4 years) rather than five-year cycles.
  • Staff will conduct sensitivity analysis on debt assumptions and bring back options regarding the debt service tax rate.
  • Capital Delivery will develop metrics for project delivery and communication, and present a communication plan to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
  • Council members requested a follow-up memo detailing the bond program status, stormwater fee rates, and a breakdown of projects in the hazard mitigation action plan.
  • No formal votes were taken; the meeting adjourned to executive session and later reconvened to adjourn without action.

Meeting Transcript

Good afternoon. My apologies for the uh for the delay here. Uh the time is now 2.09 p.m. on Wednesday, August 27th, 2025, and the City of San Antonio budget work session is called to order. Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Councilmember Corps. Councilmember Castillo Angiano. Present. Councilmember Viegran. Here. Councilmember Mungia. President. Councilmember Castillo. Here. Councilmember Galván. Here. Councilmember Alarete Gavito. Here. Councilmember Mesa Gonzalez. Councilmember Spears. Councilmember White. Mayor Mayor Jones. Here. Mayor, we have Quorum. Thank you, Madam Clerk. This meeting is to hear about budgets for the debt management plan, capital delivery department and capital budget, and public works department. Eric, over to you. Thank you, Mayor. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. We'll start with Troy Elliott, the city's chief financial officer on our debt management plan. Um and then transition to Mike Shannon with Capital Delivery Services. And then finally, uh Razi will be giving his final budget presentation. Um so ask a lot of questions on that one. So good afternoon, Mayor, members of City Council, Troy Elliott, I'm the chief financial officer. As Eric mentioned, I'll be kicking off the first of three presentations with the exciting debt management plan. Um this will be probably my fourth year of doing this, so I think a lot of the presentation you see will be kind of duplicative. I think it's um beneficial to kind of give a refresher on some of the slides and the contents of the debt management plan. First, I'd like to start, you know, what really what is a debt management plan? It's made up of several components that we're going to go through the presentation. What debt do we have outstanding, what debt have we issued, how are we going to pay for that debt over time? All the fundamental components embedded into the debt management plan and the assumptions that we that we use to make sure that we can actually pay for the debt that we have issued and any future debt that we're going to issue. The debt management plan is really a compilation of several debt management plans. For today, going to focus primarily on the advert lorem uh debt management plan, which is the property tax backed, as well as talk a little bit about aviation and stormwater, and that's where I'll spend the bulk of my time. On the next slide, you'll have seen this before. This is the primary tools or the debt that we issue as part of our debt management plan. We issue general obligation bonds by statute, those are backed by property taxes and their voter approved. The last time that we had our authorization for a general obligation bond was in 2022 for the 1.2 billion dollars. That was in Mike will talk a little bit more about this, but we had the six propositions, roughly 180 plus different projects embedded in that general obligation bond. The next three to the right, um, all three of these are not required under statute to be voted. They are two certificates of obligations and tax notes are backed by property taxes.

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