San Antonio city staff examining how Trump budget cuts affect city services

San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones speaks during a public engagement. Credit: Public Domain / U.S. Air Force

San Antonio city staff on Friday are participated in a “tabletop” session, or stress test, to determine how severely President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill will slice into the city’s budget and services.

San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones disclosed the meeting during a community town hall over the weekend.

“It’s very important — especially as we’re looking at these major federal cuts — that we have an understanding of what that might look like in our community,” she said.

Passed in July, the Republican-backed budget bill boosts funding for federal agencies such as Homeland Security, while slashing funding for local health departments and eliminating a variety of grants for municipalities dealing with energy efficiency, climate change and pollution.

The City of San Antonio receives about $150 million in federal funding annually. Federal cuts, along with a looming $100 million-plus budget deficit in 2027, could leave the city dangerously strapped for cash, Jones said.

“This is not about having all the answers, but this is about reducing uncertainty and trying to mitigate these risks,” she said over the weekend. “Because I’m very cognizant that some of the changes we might need to make to cover that budget gap are, in fact, going to impact the very people who will have less money in their pockets when the One Big Beautfiul Bill Act is implemented.”

The results of Friday’s tabletop session will allow city staff to better analyze which city departments will be hardest hit by the cuts and how best for the city to craft its new budget, the mayor added.

The city will release results from the stress test next month.

Subscribe to SA Current newsletters.

San Antonio city staff examining how Trump budget cuts affect city services

Tags: