Members of the San Antonio City Council unanimously approved a $3.96 billion budget for the 2025 fiscal year on Thursday — a 5.8% increase from this year’s $3.7 billion budget.

For the first time since 2010, however, the city entered this budget season with a deficit, thanks to slowing revenue growth from both property and sales taxes.

While city staff cut planned expenses and avoided raising the tax rate, their budget crunching was somewhat overshadowed to community members still wrapping their heads around last week’s vote to help fund a $160 million minor league baseball stadium.

“We don’t need another stadium, said Diana Uriegas, a citizen who signed up to speak at Thursday’s council meeting. “Our people need housing. Our people need drainage.”

Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who is term-limited from seeking reelection, contended that in his eight years as mayor, the city has only directed more of its budget to historically underserved parts of the community.

By applying that framework, he said, the city budget addresses “decades of intentional neglect [and] discriminatory policies.”

Starting from a deficit

Among the city’s spending woes, a new firefighters’ contract approved in August put a $27 million hole in the budget over the next three years, and a policy change by the Bexar Appraisal District could mean the city takes in even less property tax revenue over the next two years.

Against that backdrop, city leaders proposed $36.6 million in spending cuts over the next two years to balance the budget, including forgoing the city’s contribution to its contingency fund.

Unlike the past two budgets, in which the city implemented new property tax exemptions and cut its tax rate to account for explosive growth in property values, this year slower growth in property valuations means the city likely won’t even take in the amount it’s legally allowed to collect.

It could have raised the property tax rate and still stayed in alignment with the state’s 3.5% revenue growth cap, but the city’s 2025 budget keeps the tax rate at 54.159 cents per $100 of valuation — the same as 2024.

As for the waning sales tax revenue, City Manager Erik Walsh told reporters on Thursday that many of Texas’ major cities saw a bump in sales tax revenue during the pandemic, but are slowly returning to pre-pandemic growth.

This week some City Council members made an eleventh hour pitch to mitigate some of the belt tightening — by tapping into the money the city receives from CPS Energy selling energy onto the gird for a profit.

That money had previously been earmarked for projects that would help the utility company avoid raising rates on customers in the future, and didn’t wind up being reprogrammed into this year’s budget. But a larger discussion about the future of that money is expected later this year.

Homeless services

For the second year in a row, a city budget survey indicated that residents’ top priority was addressing homelessness.

The 2025 budget includes $44.2 million for direct homeless prevention services, outreach, shelters, housing and encampment cleanups — a big increase from the previous year.

Animal Care Services

The Animal Care Services Department is set to receive a 13.6% budget increase, from $28.5 million in 2024 to $32.3 million in 2025. That’s on the heels of a 33% budget increase in 2024 — after a deadly dog mauling brought the agency under intense scrutiny.

The 2025 budget includes money for additional officers to respond to critical calls. The department is still without a director, and has not yet opened the community spay/neuter clinics budgeted for last year.

Law enforcement

The 2025 budget continued to make major increases in law enforcement. It includes $30 million for 65 additional police officers and technology upgrades.