San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones on Monday tossed a curveball into the city’s already tense budget talks, suggesting the San Antonio Spurs should help pay for additional police officers. The idea immediately drew resistance from several City Council members, even as they prepared to push for more patrol hires in next year’s budget. The clash highlights a growing fight over how to pay for public safety in a year with tight revenue forecasts.
Ortiz raised the proposal during a town hall, according to WOAI. The station reported that her comments came as councilmembers wrestled with how to fund officer hiring recommended by outside consultants. WOAI also noted the council was set to consider a resolution to hire 65 new officers for the 2027 fiscal year.
Council Resolution and Staffing Plan
Three councilmembers — Marina Alderete Gavito, Misty Spears and Marc Whyte — submitted a memo asking the council to add a resolution to an upcoming agenda that would prioritize hiring 65 officers for FY27, according to the City of San Antonio. The move reflects a push by North Side members to stick with a multi-year staffing plan that has been slowly grinding its way through City Hall.
Budget Constraints and Staffing Targets
A 2023 Weiss Consulting review concluded San Antonio needed roughly 360 additional officers and recommended ramping up with 100 hires at the start and 65 each year afterward. The city has fallen well short of that pace. This year’s budget funds only 40 new patrol positions, after earlier attempts to add more officers failed to win a council majority, the San Antonio Express-News reports. The gap between those targets and what is actually funded sits at the center of the current political fight.
Mayor Frames It as Revenue Sharing
Ortiz has tried to cast her Spurs pitch as part of a broader revenue-sharing conversation tied to Project Marvel and the proposed arena deal. Speaking to the San Antonio Current, she said, "We need revenue sharing." She argued that the Spurs receive millions through naming rights and commercial agreements and that the city should "ask and negotiate" for a slice of that money to support public safety and other community priorities.
Council Pushback
Several councilmembers, however, were quick to swat the idea away, telling the San Antonio Current that expecting private partners to open their books or share ongoing revenue is far from standard in arena negotiations. Councilmember Marina Alderete Gavito did not mince words: "Revenue sharing on this first deal is not going to happen," she said, while others argued that how many officers to hire should be settled the old-fashioned way, through the city’s regular budget process.
What Happens Next
For now, the immediate question is whether the council will move ahead with the nonbinding resolution supporting 65 additional officers. WOAI reported the measure was scheduled for a Thursday vote. At the same time, Axios notes it is still unclear whether the city manager will actually place the item on the council calendar, suggesting the larger debate could spill into upcoming budget negotiations.
