San Antonio · FY2027 proposed · August 25, 2026
What does City Hall want from this house?
The first property-tax rate increase in 34 years. Not because the city is broke — because they closed a on the homestead instead of on money they already have a claim on.[11][9]
Not an overdraft. A hole they had to close to pass a legal budget.
Police + Fire. The City’s public-safety line is 65%. Everything else lives in 35¢.
After the tax increase and $89.6M in cuts. The problem was postponed.
Of every $100 the General Fund spends
Tap a square. Each square is a dollar. Police and Fire take 64 of them.
Police
49 new slots. None for neighborhood patrol. 27 are for the airport terminal.[7]
If City Hall were a household
A $1,760 paycheck.
The General Fund is $1.76 billion. Scale it to a $1,760 paycheck and each dollar is $1 million. This is the same mix. It is just a size a household can feel.[1]
- Police$677
- Fire$451
- Streets$112
- Parks$71
- Libraries$58
- Animal Care$38
- Senior meals$31
- Everything else$322
Security takes $1,128. Grandma’s meals, the yard, and the library card share $160. Then they raise the kids’ allowance and tell grandma they’re broke.
Learn it
Walk a day in the city
Seven screens. A pothole, a 911 call, a closed lunch, money they didn’t touch. Then you choose.
Open
Do it
You make the tradeoffs
Four would-you-rathers. Raise the bill or take the Pearl’s tax growth. Airlines or the homestead. Watch 2029 refuse to die.
Open
Read it
I’m here for the numbers
The forensic briefing. Waterfall, forecast, nine findings, every citation.
Open
What they have not scored
Unused levers. Zero new homestead bills.
Tax growth trapped in the Pearl. Airport cops on the homestead. A CPS floor. The Spurs arena on the tax-rate card. The $157.7 million gap does not require a rate increase unless Council refuses to touch the other piles.