About 54% of voters approved Prop C, rebuffing the firefighters’ union’s effort to keep the city manager salary and tenure caps it fought for in 2018.
City Manager Erik Walsh is no longer obliged to give up his job in February 2027. The passage of Proposition C, which removes the caps on his salary and tenure, means the City Council has the option to keep Walsh in his post for longer than eight years, which is the limit that voters imposed six years ago.
And the council is now free to pay him whatever amount they wish since the charter will no longer cap his pay at 10 times what the lowest-paid city worker earns — which puts his base pay at $374,400, less than what other Texas city managers are paid. About 54% of voters approved Prop C, according to unofficial election results — rebuffing the firefighters’ union’s effort to keep the caps it fought for in 2018 in place. Prop C was one of six city-led charter amendments that easily passed, a victory for the business-led Renew SA campaign that formed to urge San Antonio voters to “finish the ballot strong” and not ignore the propositions at the end of a very long ballot. “I’m overly excited that the citizens have said, ‘Hey, we’re a growing city — we need to do things in a fashion that looks like we’re a growing city,’” said philanthropist and former developer Gordon Hartman, a tri-chair of the Renew SA political action committee. “The results tonight give an indication that they recognize that’s the way they want to go, and that’s nothing but positive for the city.” Aside from the firefighters’ union’s campaign against Prop C, Renew SA faced very little organized opposition. San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association President Joe Jones said the union was “a little surprised” by the outcome. “The most important thing to us is that the community of San Antonio speaks,” he said. “And if that’s the will of the voters, then that’s the way it should be.” Other changes at City Hall The next mayor and 10-member City Council, who will be elected in May, will serve four- rather than two-year terms as a result of Proposition F, which 53% of voters supported. They’ll still be limited to eight years in office. And they’ll make $24,000 more than what the current council and mayor make. Proposition E, which close to 64% of voters approved, raises the council’s pay from $45,722 to $70,200, effective June 2025. It increases the mayor’s annual salary from $61,725 to $87,000. And it will come with future raises since the amendment ties their pay to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s median income for a four-person household in the San Antonio-New Braunfels metropolitan area. Hartman hopes that pay raise will reduce the number of council members who have to work a second job and that the longer term will enable them to focus on long-term issues. “They know that they’re going to be there for a period of time to see things through,” he said. Proposition A had the most support, at 72%. It will require the city to allocate sufficient funds to the Ethics Review Board so it can review allegations of city ethics code violations and it authorizes the board to accept or decline ethics complaints that another entity has resolved. It will also define what constitutes a “conflict of interest” that requires the board to hire an outside attorney to advise and represent it. Proposition B will remove and update outdated language from the charter, which functions as the city’s governing document. It had 68% support. Proposition D will give civilian city employees the ability to campaign for and donate to council and mayoral candidates — something members of the police and fire unions have the right to do. It had nearly 63% support. Union fails in bid against Prop C The now defunct restrictions on the city manager were the result of a fiery and expensive campaign that the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association waged in 2018. At the time, the union was in a bitter, years-long contract fight with then-City Manager Sheryl Sculley, who was earning $475,000 in base pay. The union saw Sculley as overpaid and overly powerful, and as an obstacle to improving firefighters and paramedics’ pay and benefits. Though their charter amendment — which 59% of voters approved — did not apply to Sculley, she announced her retirement shortly after the election. The union, now under different leadership, was slow to announce their position on Prop C. It came out against the measure on Oct. 7, almost two months after the City Council voted to place it on the November general election ballot. The union’s positive working relationship with Walsh was a major reason why the union took so long to take a stance, Jones said. “The biggest complicating factor was Erik Walsh himself,” he said. “And ultimately, at the end of the day, our members spoke: it wasn’t about the person, it was about the principle.” In the weeks before the election, the union spent less than $180,000, according to its Oct. 28 campaign finance report. That’s a fraction of the nearly $920,000 the union’s political committee had in the bank in early October. “We held back, and that should speak,” Jones said. “It says that, at the end of the day, we felt it was our obligation and our duty to our community to educate and inform, but also leave it to them to make their own decision.” The chance that Walsh could stay beyond February 2027 is “fantastic,” Jones said. “Because obviously we work very well with Erik, and we always have.” “So, in the end is it a win-win?” Jones said. “I don’t know if it is.” U.S. results | Texas results | San Antonio results Voter guide 2024 election Polling locations: Where to vote on Election Day Candidates who've raised the most money in Texas How your neighborhood voted in past elections Where voter turnout is the highest in Texas Express-News Editorial Board recommendations
Proposition D Bexar County Sheriff San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association S.A. Ethics Review Board Erik Walsh San Antonians Ron Nirenberg Walsh Proposition C. Election Day Proposition F Proposition A Proposition E.
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