At the urging of COPS/Metro and allies, San Antonio City Council passed the city’s first property tax rate increase in 33 years – protecting essential programs from cuts. Those programs include SA Ready to Work, the workforce development program COPS/Metro leaders fought to create.
When the city proposed deep cuts to key public investments to close a projected $158 million budget shortfall, COPS/Metro organized for months to push back. Leaders met with the city manager, council members, and business leaders, testified at city hall, and pressed for an alternative solution.
“What will we lose if there are insufficient funds?,” asked Pastor Dennis Schafer, a COPS/Metro leader from Mission San Jose Catholic Church.. “We will face cuts in our city’s protection by police and fire fighters. Seniors will lose services that help them in vulnerable times. All of us will be diminished by cuts to our public libraries. School children will lose support in their learning."
The question is more than a financial one; it is a moral one. What kind of city do we want to be?”
Before the budget passed, Fr. Jimmy Drennan of St. Margaret Mary’s Catholic Church testified:
Now is not the time to cut back on investment in our people. Now is the time to double down on the citizens of San Antonio, because that is where our future lies. Knowing that we cannot balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable, we are supporting this modest tax increase being proposed by the city manager. [This] will add up to about a cup of coffee once a month for the next few years…[and] is not going to affect the most vulnerable.”
[Photo credit: City of San Antonio]
City Council A Session - Sept 17, City of San Antonio [video - 46:11]
Community, Business Leaders Urge City Council to Protect Workforce Programs in Budget, News4SA [pdf]
Déficit presupuestario en San Antonio: concilio evalúa posibles recortes, 60 San Antonio [video]
San Antonio Leaders Cap 'Tumultous' Budget Season with First Property Tax Hike in Decades, KENS5 [pdf] [video]