{"id":1009952,"date":"2026-08-19T03:10:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T03:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1009952\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T03:10:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T03:10:29","slug":"permits-and-ambulances-could-cost-more-under-new-city-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1009952\/","title":{"rendered":"Permits and ambulances could cost more under new city budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Antonio residents could soon pay more for everything from ambulance rides and garage sale permits to losing a library book as the city looks to help balance one of its most difficult budgets in years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget<\/a> calls for $14.4 million in new or increased revenue next year through dozens of fee changes spread across city departments, part of a larger effort expected to generate $30.4 million over the next two years.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the city is proposing $89.6 million in General Fund spending reductions over the next two years, including $41.3 million in fiscal year 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Officials laid out the changes Tuesday during San Antonio City Council\u2019s first budget work session, offering the clearest picture yet of where residents may directly feel the effects of the city\u2019s efforts to close a projected $158 million budget shortfall<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not all of the reductions amount to cuts in services. About $27 million are efficiencies and another $23.4 million in cuts involve shifting expenses to other funding sources. <\/p>\n

And on the revenue side, most of the fee increases would fall on a particular city service rather than to the general public \u2014 about 71% of next year\u2019s proposed\u00a0 $14.4 million in additional revenue.<\/p>\n

That approach prompted some of the sharpest debate Tuesday during the council\u2019s first budget work session over who ultimately bears the cost of balancing the budget.<\/p>\n

District 7 Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito, who has said she is \u201cadamantly opposed\u201d to a property tax increase, urged the city to explore raising some fees even further, particularly those tied to speeding and vacant properties, arguing they could discourage unwanted behavior while generating additional revenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"District 7 Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito said she opposes raising property taxes and instead urged the city to explore increasing some fees, including those for speeding tickets. Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

But District 3 Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran argued residents will pay either way, and that relying more heavily on fees could disproportionately affect people with fewer resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot cut our way out of this deficit and we need to come with that reality and understanding. Either way, our residents are going to pay because if they\u2019re not paying through a property tax variable increase,\u201d Viagran said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to have to pay it in fees, and I can tell you where the burden is going to lie with the fees. It\u2019s going to lie on the people that are struggling day to day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Budget officials told council the city conducted a cost-recovery analysis for each proposed fee, generally seeking only to recover the cost of providing a service without exceeding it. Officials said they also considered whether full cost recovery would place an unreasonable burden on people who may not be able to afford it.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s getting more expensive?<\/p>\n

Some of the largest increases would come through the Police and Fire departments<\/a>, which together account for roughly $10 million in additional revenue next year.<\/p>\n

The base fee for an ambulance ride would increase $200, from $1,500 to $1,700, generating an estimated $2.4 million in additional revenue. The fee for patients who receive basic medical treatment from a San Antonio Fire Department EMT but aren\u2019t transported to a hospital would increase from $100 to $150.<\/p>\n

The city would also begin charging nearly $1,300 to private assisted-living facilities, nursing homes and independent-living facilities for nonemergency calls to help lift residents, while establishing a flat $49 medical-supply fee for ambulance transports.<\/p>\n

Fire Prevention would see a broader overhaul of its fees after a city review found roughly 40% of the program\u2019s workload wasn\u2019t recovering its costs. Among the changes is a new $327 charge for investigations of fire-safety complaints and increases to inspections, permits and after-hours services.<\/p>\n

Police-related changes would include increasing new commercial and fire alarm permits from $200 to $250 and raising the service fee for robbery alarms from $500 to $600. The city would also establish a new $30 late fee for alarm permits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Criminal background checks, clearance letters, consulate and immigration letters and fingerprint record searches would each increase from $30 to $50, while application fees for several types of vendors would increase from $30 to $40.<\/p>\n

Towing and impound fees would account for the largest share of the department\u2019s additional revenue. A light-duty police-initiated tow, for example, would increase from $210 to $272. The city would also begin charging $5 for incident and offense reports that are currently free and establish a new $75 fee to return firearms to arrestees.<\/p>\n

The city is also looking to recover more of what it spends providing police services at some of San Antonio\u2019s biggest Fiesta events<\/a>. Organizers of the River Parade, Battle of Flowers, Fiesta Flambeau, Market Square and Taste of New Orleans would be asked to cover half of those costs, generating an estimated $700,000 annually for the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

City Manager Erik Walsh said organizers have discussed potentially passing some of those costs on to attendees through surcharges on tickets for events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"With the city looking to recover policing costs for some of the largest Fiesta events, attendees could see a new surcharge on ticket prices. Credit: Scott Ball \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

But the proposed increases extend far beyond emergency services and policing, reaching into more routine interactions residents have with the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Garage sale permits would increase from $16 to $20, dangerous-dog inspections from $25 to $40 and litter permits from $50 to $100. Residents would also pay more to reserve city recreational facilities, including gyms and sports fields, with sports field reservations that currently range from $12 to $16 increasing to $25 for residents and $35 for nonresidents.<\/p>\n

At public libraries, the processing fee for a lost item would double from $5 to $10, while people who live outside San Antonio would for the first time be charged $20 for a library card. The nonresident fee alone is projected to generate $1 million annually.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition, residents who lose a book would have to pay the list price of the book instead of the current flat $10 fee.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s parks environmental fee, charged through CPS Energy bills, would increase from $2 to $2.25 per month as the city shifts some park maintenance expenses out of the General Fund.<\/p>\n

Where else residents could feel cuts\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among the most visible reductions would be changes at San Antonio Public Library, where the city seeks to eliminate 39 positions across 17 branches after a budget review found digital circulation has increased 161% since 2019, while physical circulation has declined 40%.<\/p>\n

Twenty of the 39 positions are currently vacant, officials said Tuesday. The remaining 19 employees would be offered other positions, first within the library system when possible and then elsewhere in city government.<\/p>\n

Several council members questioned whether circulation statistics fully capture the workload at modern libraries, pointing to branches that function as after-school gathering places, cooling and warming centers and places where residents access computers, internet service and other resources. <\/p>\n

District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez questioned whether eliminating circulation-related positions could ultimately leave fewer employees available to support those other services.<\/p>\n

Deputy City Manager Maria Villagomez said the city considered programming and other library activities in its review and designed the staffing reductions to avoid affecting those services.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Carver Branch Library is expected to reopen with additional staffing under San Antonio\u2019s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, even as the city proposes eliminating 39 positions across 17 other library branches. Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

The city would also close three part-time senior nutrition centers \u2014 Darner, South San and Harlandale Brier \u2014 that officials say have low daily attendance and higher costs per participant. South San is already closed for renovations, with its participants currently attending the Normoyle Senior Center. Participants at the other two locations would also be directed to nearby senior centers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The proposed budget would also eliminate $2.2 million for the San Antonio Education Partnership scholarship program, which provided assistance to about 3,300 college students in fiscal year 2025. Students currently receive between $300 and $700 per semester depending on the college or university they attend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Several council members called for preserving at least some of the scholarship funding. Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones pointed to a city memo showing existing Ready to Work funding could be used to backfill the proposed reduction without a public vote, an option Walsh said has been added to the list of potential budget amendments.<\/p>\n

Metro Health would see another $1.9 million in reductions affecting several programs and positions. The changes would eliminate the Por Vida healthy restaurant program, end city staff support for the Mayor\u2019s Fitness Council and discontinue a pilot program focused on maternal mortality, among other changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those reductions drew pushback Tuesday, particularly over the elimination of three positions supporting the city\u2019s Community Health Improvement Plan and work related to prenatal and maternal health. Viagran questioned the cuts given longstanding health disparities in parts of the city, while Jones pointed to recovering more of the city\u2019s police costs from Fiesta events as one potential source of money to preserve some of the programs.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones suggested recovering more of the city\u2019s costs for policing Fiesta events as one potential way to preserve Metro Health programs. Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

The city is also proposing to eliminate its Compliance, Opportunity and Access office. City Attorney Andy Segovia called the elimination a \u201csignificant loss\u201d of expertise for the city. Although employees handling disability access, language access, civil rights and immigrant affairs would move with those functions, officials acknowledged the centralized Fair Access work \u2014 including some citywide tools and training \u2014 would go away.<\/p>\n

Some reductions could be less noticeable but still change how departments operate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city would eliminate two positions from Code Enforcement\u2019s Neighborhood Enhancement Team, which conducts proactive sweeps across the city. Under the reduction, each City Council district would receive one sweep instead of two per year with officials estimating the team would generate 45% fewer cases.<\/p>\n

Parks and Recreation would eliminate three support positions, reducing the number of city-supported park events from 103 to 77 annually and slightly increasing expected turnaround times for some building maintenance requests.<\/p>\n

The proposed budget would also eliminate the city\u2019s $450,000 employee tuition reimbursement program, which serves about 226 employees annually, and suspend work on creating new cultural heritage districts through the Office of Historic Preservation.<\/p>\n

The discussion made clear that council members are already looking for ways to restore some of the proposed reductions, including library staffing, employee tuition assistance and education scholarships. Walsh cautioned that additions will ultimately require council members to identify another cut or source of revenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have any thoughts about what we can reduce as we go through these work sessions, that\u2019ll be helpful, because ultimately we\u2019re going to need to close the process in mid-September.\u201d Walsh said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The council will continue debating the budget and is scheduled to adopt the final budget Sept. 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Antonio residents could soon pay more for everything from ambulance rides and garage sale permits to losing…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1009953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,30360,187255,3232,404406,13237,258545,404407,404408,27146,134406,365867,78341,404409,17797,404410,49501,73466,60238,404411,95061,132428,7202,404412,404413,40658,38012,20591,7203,107316,404414,358,7453,3187,7815,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,7455],"class_list":["post-1009952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-america","tag-andy-segovia","tag-battle-of-flowers","tag-budget","tag-budget-work-session","tag-city-budget","tag-cosa","tag-cps-energy-bill","tag-darner","tag-erik-walsh","tag-fiesta","tag-fiscal-year-2027-budget","tag-general-fund","tag-harlandale-brier","tag-jalen-mckee-rodriguez","tag-maria-villamoez","tag-marina-alderete-gavito","tag-market-square","tag-metro-health","tag-normoyle-senior-center","tag-phyllis-viagran","tag-river-parade","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-budget","tag-san-antonio-budget-fy2027","tag-san-antonio-city-council","tag-san-antonio-fire-department","tag-san-antonio-police-department","tag-sanantonio","tag-south-san","tag-taste-of-new-orleans","tag-texas","tag-top-story","tag-tx","tag-typedaily","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-wc-1500-2000"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1009952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1009952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1009952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1009953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1009952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1009952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1009952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}