Bexar County Manager David Smith — the first and only person to have ever held his position — plans to retire at the end of the year.
The move means a tremendous loss of institutional knowledge, just as a new Bexar County judge is taking office.
Smith started at the county as a budget intern in 1997, and has seen many ups and downs. The county manager position was created by former county Judge Nelson Wolff, who hired Smith for the job in 2011.
Wolff retired after two decades in 2022, and Smith survived early disagreements with County Judge Peter Sakai, who is now also on his way out at the end of the year, after losing his primary to former Mayor Ron Nirenberg.
Nirenberg is heavily favored to carry the blue county in November, when he faces Republican Patrick Von Dohlen.
Nirenberg said Tuesday that Smith has been a “capable steward and collaborator” for the region, and finding the right replacement will be critical for the next county leaders.
“A strong partnership between the Commissioners Court and the next county manager is essential for solving the challenges facing this region in the future,” Nirenberg said.
Smith’s contract is set to end at the beginning of next year, and he already gave a budget outlook that sounded a lot like a swan song last month.
But moments after commissioners approved his final budget and tax rate Tuesday, Smith made the decision official.
“When my current contract as county manager ends on December 31st of this year, I will be retiring from Bexar County,” Smith said. “It’ll be your opportunity to get a fresh voice and new ideas in here.”
Smith called his impending departure “probably the worst kept secret in the county” and said he plans to spend his remaining three months helping Commissioners Court prepare for the transition.
The budget approved Tuesday was the 30th Smith has participated in during his nearly three decades with the county. He called it the toughest of those 30 from an incoming revenue perspective.
Smith had been warning commissioners about those conditions for weeks, with federal pandemic relief expiring at the same time property tax revenue is down for the first time in recent memory.
“We don’t often experience a literal drop in property tax revenues,” Smith said. “We’ve experienced declining growth. We’ve experienced stagnant growth. But a literal drop — even though it’s a small one — is unusual for us.”
That’s set the county up for some tough decisions this year, like what to do with popular pandemic-era programs Smith and former Judge Nelson Wolff helped create.
Bexar County stood up an entire health department that’s now at risk as COVID relief dollars run out.
And as the budget team made its formal presentation, Smith highlighted a few more long-range concerns he hoped to put on commissioners’ radar, at times sounding more like parting wisdom than a call to action.
Explosive growth in the county’s unincorporated parts will soon require a major infrastructure program — something Smith said is not a “nice-to-have” but a necessity.
He also warned that the county’s cautious approach to artificial intelligence will eventually lead to information security issues if they don’t start engaging in a different way.
“We’ve drawn as hard a line around our sandbox as possible, and AI is getting smarter than the sandbox,” Smith said.
Following the budget’s approval, Smith said holding the tax rate steady this year could put future commissioners in a better position to make the case for an increase if additional revenue is needed to address the county’s growing infrastructure demands.
Commissioners used the announcement to reflect on Smith’s tenure and the institutional knowledge he’ll take with him.
Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores (Pct. 1) recalled entering office prepared to clash with Smith after hearing criticism of him, only to come to respect his knowledge of county government. Her office eventually started referring to him as “Professor David Smith,” she said.
“I just really respect the work that you do,” Clay-Flores said. “I am glad that you are one of my constituents because I will be appointing you to one of my boards, so you cannot get away from me yet.”
Sakai, who said he has worked with Smith for more than 26 years in various capacities, credited him with helping position the county to weather the financial pressures it now faces.
“I’ll stand on the record, that this county government, the commissioners’ court. Has never ever been more transparent. Has never been more effective and efficient,” Sakai said. “This county is on solid foundational ground.”
