TPR News Now: Thursday, August 13, 2026

You're listening to Texas Public Radio News. I'm Marianne Navarro. Today, the San Antonio City Council will hear their proposed budget for 2027. Over the last several months, city leaders have been trying to tackle a two-year, $158 million budget deficit. TPR's Joy Palacios reports. By law, the city manager must present a balanced budget in August, and the city council votes on a final version in September after community input. One item the council will consider today is initial approval to the first property tax rate in 33 years. The posted rate the city is proposing is an increase of about two cents per $100 a property value that would offset some of the projected deficit. Other methods discussed this year are certain fee increases and spending reductions. The full plan will be discussed this morning. Another issue the council will consider is adding a reauthorization of pre-K for essay to the November ballot. That's the city's sales tax-funded pre-K program. The ballot language would ask voters to authorize it for another 20 years. I'm Joy Palacios in San Antonio. And the potential budget deficit is one reason why San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz-Jay Jones wants to take the city's nearly half-billion dollar contribution to a Spurs arena back to voters. San Antonio Councilman Mark White tells TPR's the source that the city already said it supported the arena last November, when Bear County voters narrowly approved a separate hotel and car rental tax to fund the arena. and the people voted so that the thought that we would spend another three months spending time and money to do that all over again, I just don't think makes sense. Mayor Jay Jones has argued that voters in the city will pay twice as they're contributing to the county and the city's contribution, so they should vote twice. White says that's misleading. The mayor has the right to oppose the plan, but what she cannot do and we cannot stand for as a community and certainly the rest of us that are elected on the city council is we cannot stand for misinformation to be disseminated to the public purposefully. Council will decide whether to put the city's arena contribution on the November ballot during the special meeting on Monday. Your longer conversation with Mark White at tpr.org. Just search for the source. Several San Antonio area lawmakers are questioning why local governments are signing immigration enforcement agreements with the federal government. DPR's Corey Cook reports. The criticism comes as six Bear County municipalities participate in a 287G program. The agreement allows trained local law enforcement officers to perform certain immigration enforcement duties under ICE supervision. Representative Barbara Gervin Hawkins says some municipalities may be attracted to the program because of federal financial support. But she says cities should not trade their independence for federal money. I know that there's budget shortages.

in different cities and municipalities. But here's the deal. Let's not sell out. Let's not sell out to Rome. The Six Bear County municipalities with 287G agreements are Boconies Heights, Hollywood Park, China Grove, St. Headwig, Sandy Oak, San Von Ormi. The city of San Antonio does not have a 287G agreement with ICE. The partnerships are made directly between local law enforcement agencies and the federal government. I'm Corey Cook and San Antonio. San Antonio consumers spent a little more this June compared to the same month last year. TPR's Brian Fitzpatrick reports on city sales tax collections made by the Texas State Comptroller's Office. The state returned to San Antonio City sales tax collections for the month of June amounting to more than $46 million, a nearly 2% increase over the same month last year. The Alamo City managed to see an increase in sales tax collections even with a slightly lower tax rate in place. Texas comptroller Don Huffine says statewide combined sales tax collections on sales made in June were up nearly 14% to $1.4 billion. He suggested cities consider... using some of those tax dollars to provide local property tax relief. I'm Brian Fitzpatrick in San Antonio. And you're listening to Real Reliable Texas Public Radio.