San Antonio city council members are demanding a say in who the mayor picks to oversee the city's next bond program, escalating a power struggle that comes as officials haggle over whether the 2027 package should total $442 million or run closer to $1 billion. Council members Teri Castillo, Marina Alderete Gavito and Marc Whyte filed a three-signature memo to force a special meeting about Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones's selections for the three community leaders, known as tri-chairs, who traditionally guide the vetting of bond projects before they go to voters.
The push comes as the mayor was expected to announce her picks this week, according to San Antonio Express-News. Council members want councilwomen Sukh Kaur and Phyllis Viagran to review those choices, and they've also asked city staff to draft an ordinance that would require full council approval of the mayor's appointments going forward. Castillo asked City Manager Erik Walsh to place an ordinance codifying council input on tri-chair appointments on an upcoming meeting agenda, the same outlet reports.
A Fight That Already Failed Once
This isn't the council's first attempt to claw back some control over the process. Castillo, Viagran and Kaur filed a memo last spring seeking council input on tri-chair and committee co-chair selections, and Castillo and Viagran argued the change would ensure all districts had a voice in choosing tri-chairs. The council voted 5-6 to kill that initiative in June, per the Express-News, and a similar effort to give council input on tri-chair appointments failed last summer too.
Not everyone wants to revisit the fight in its current form. Council member Jalen McKee-Rodriguez suggested making the change at a later point instead, so it doesn't look like, as he put it, a clear and purposeful attack on the mayor and her authority, according to the same report. Castillo, Alderete Gavito and Whyte countered that strong representation at the table is especially important given how limited the bond's size has become.
Mayor Calls for Less Pettiness
Ortiz Jones has pushed back on the framing, saying her colleagues should set aside pettiness, per the Express-News. She also said she looked forward to colleagues considering whether additional review of her selections was actually necessary. The mayor has historically been the one who chooses the three chairs that guide bond-project vetting in San Antonio, a norm council members are now trying to formally change.
The appointment dispute is unfolding alongside a separate clash over the bond package's size and contents. Ortiz Jones proposed allocating $367 million of a $442 million bond to council districts 1 through 5, plus $75 million specifically for affordable housing, and she excluded bond funding for infrastructure tied to a new Spurs arena from her proposal, according to the Express-News. She said those five districts have historically received less private-sector investment and city spending.
The Bond Number Keeps Moving
City staff recommended a $442 million general-obligation bond package on Oct. 14, along with a separate $175 million stormwater drainage revenue bond, according to San Antonio Report. That figure has shifted repeatedly in recent months. An earlier estimate pegged the next five-year bond program at $450 million in construction projects, down from a $625 million estimate at the start of the year, the article notes. The $442 million recommendation is meant to let the city hit the May 2027 ballot deadline while avoiding a potential increase to the debt-service property tax rate, per the same outlet.
Not everyone on the council is satisfied with that number. At least four council members said they favored a $750 million general obligation bond instead, San Antonio Report reports. Council members Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, Edward Mungia and Teri Castillo have expressed support for a $1 billion bond program, while Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran said she favors another $1.2 billion program. Those four members represent the city's East, South and West sides, areas that have historically received less municipal spending and private investment than the wealthier North Side.
What a Bigger Bond Would Cost Taxpayers
General-obligation bond debt in San Antonio is repaid through the city's property tax revenue, and the portion of the tax rate dedicated to paying off debt could need to rise from 21 cents per $100 of assessed value to as much as 23 cents to cover a $1 billion bond. That math matters given San Antonio's broader fiscal picture: officials have already said they plan to propose the city's first property tax rate increase in more than three decades, and the city faces a $158 million budget deficit over the next two years.
San Antonio runs on a five-year bond cycle, with voter-approved packages in 2007, 2012, 2017 and 2022. Voters approved a record $1 billion bond in 2022, up from an $850 million bond in 2017, and the housing portion of that 2022 package, $150 million, was more than 80% allocated to projects by this past May. Whatever the council ultimately approves for 2027, it's expected to land well below that 2022 record, with staff at one point projecting bond capacity at roughly half, or about one-third, the size of the prior package.
A formal council vote to approve the bond issuance is expected on Oct. 29, and the council has until early February to call a bond election for May 2027. Before then, the council must still finalize the bond amount and project categories and establish the committees that will advise on how the money gets spent, with the fight over who sits on those committees now very much part of the story.
