This article has been updated.
While most eyes across the U.S. were trained on the presidential election Tuesday night, many in San Antonio were closely watching results from the bottom of the ballot on six local charter amendment propositions.
Early vote totals released Tuesday showed general enthusiasm for the measures that could affect the local political landscape for years to come. That enthusiasm grew as the Election Day results started to trickle in.
“It shows that San Antonio voters are thoughtful, they’re smart, and they make good decisions about the future of the city,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who established a commission aimed at getting five of the measures on the ballot. “These props were crafted with consideration from a cross-section of our community about major issues related to the governance of our city.”
Prop C, which would remove pay and tenure caps for the city manager — and has received the most attention and money of the six — received approval from just over 54% of voters.
Earning more than half of local voters’ approval on each proposition was a “slam dunk,” Nirenberg said.
“The community has spoken,” said Joe Jones, president of the firefighters’ union, which fought to keep the caps it fought for — and voters approved — in 2018. Firefighters and paramedics wore bright yellow T-shirts to the polls, encouraging voters to vote against Prop C.
“We did a very deliberate and fair job of educating the public and at the end of the day, they voted in favor of it,” Jones said. “We respect that.”
The final proposition vote counts:
Prop A, which modifies the purview and funding of the city’s Ethics Review Commission, received nearly 72%
Prop B, which cleans up outdated charter language, received about 68%.
Prop D, which allows city employees to participate in local political campaigns, received nearly 63%
Prop E, which increases city council salaries and ties future increases to the area median income, received about 64%.
Prop F, which increases city council terms from two to four years, received about 53%.
Many voters didn’t bother marking “for” or “against” the wordy propositions located at the bottom of a long ballot.
There were at least 67,900 undervotes, meaning voters didn’t answer “for or “against” for each of the six propositions, for each proposition.
Prop C hubbub
With Prop C, city leaders are asking voters to undo 2018 changes to the City Charter that set limits on how much money the city manager can make and how long they can hold the position.
Under the current city charter (basically a local constitution), the city manager’s tenure is capped at eight years and their base pay is capped at 10 times what the lowest-paid city employee gets paid. Entry-level employees earn $37,440 annually ($18 per hour) so the city manager earns a base pay of $374,400 — with additional allowances and benefits.
RenewSA, a political action committee formed by influential local leaders planned to spend more than $1 million to convince voters to approve all six props, with an emphasis on Prop C. It spent roughly half that as of late October.
They argued that the caps need to be removed in order to hire the best and brightest to oversee the day-to-day operations of a nearly $4 billion municipal organization. Opponents, including the fire union, argued that the caps ensure pay equity for city employees and there should be a turnover of city leadership for fresh perspectives.
Former City Manager Sheryl Sculley, whose base pay was $475,000 in 2018, held the position for 13 years and was embroiled in a years-long battle with public safety unions to rein in costs associated with uniformed employees’ health care.
The San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association helped put those caps in place in 2018 and its PAC spent big money on polling, mailers and TV ads telling voters to reject Prop C in this election.
Local philanthropist and entrepreneur Gordon Hartman, a tri-chair of RenewSA, said voters sent a clear message regarding city governance.
“The citizens are speaking very loud,” he said. The union wants “a weak city manager” to negotiate its future labor contracts with “and people saw through that.”
But this was not an attack on the current City Manager Erik Walsh or future city managers, Jones said.
Walsh is a dedicated leader who has earned the respect of the union, Jones said. “We believed in the principle that the community voted for [in 2018] and that was a balance of power downtown. … We were unique in the entire country. … We wanted to remind voters what they voted for six years ago.”
With higher pay and longer terms, Nirenberg, who is serving his final term after eight years, said representatives on City Council can better serve their constituents.
“This is all a positive step forward for the governance of the city,” he said.
Read more about the amendments and our coverage here.
Disclosure: Erika Gonzalez, a tri-chair of RenewSA, sits on the San Antonio Report’s board of directors.
