Top San Antonio city officials took part in the latest gathering of a group of north side community leaders.

City Manager Erik Walsh, Police Chief William McManus and District 8 City Council Member Manny Pelaez were among local leaders who spoke at the June 13 meeting of Northside Neighborhoods for Organized Development at Hardberger Park.

Attendees from several area neighborhood associations listened to a presentation on San Antonio’s fiscal year 2022-23 budget, on which city staff and council members are currently working.

Pelaez said that as communities such as San Antonio work to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic effects, now is the time to return to programming a city budget that concentrates on basic services and not on emergency funding spurred by the pandemic.

“What you’re going to see in this budget are meat and potatoes,” Pelaez said.

Pelaez said, however, the FY 2022-23 budget will reflect the use of $329 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding allocated to the city.

“This budget will be loaded with dollars meant for those ‘just in case’ things to make the city more resilient,” Pelaez said.

Walsh pointed out highlights in the FY 2022-23 budget, which the council expects to preview in an Aug. 11 meeting and adopt Sept. 15. Fiscal year 2022-23 begins Oct. 1.

Walsh said the city is looking at increasing its stormwater utility fee in order to generate funding and address drainage problems.

“The idea would be to raise that amount and use the difference to issue more bonds for drainage,” Walsh said.

Walsh said the 2023 budget will reflect inflation, increases in the new police collective bargaining agreement, city staffing and pay issues, operating costs associated with upcoming 2022 bond projects, and land acquisitions and management in the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone.

Walsh also said the new budget will reflect new or expanded property tax exemptions and other forms of tax relief the council was expecting to consider in its June 16 meeting. Walsh said some types of tax relief will especially help senior homeowners given skyrocketing local property appraisals.

“We’re going to try and do more for those who’ve been in their homes longer and those who’ve been subjected to gentrification,” Walsh said of tax-relief efforts.

NNOD member Chuck Saxer suggested city officials offer perspective while providing public presentations about the budget and economic ramifications to community groups such as NNOD.

“We have to be careful in that we fully explain it to the public,” Saxer said.

City representatives also touched upon what they are able to do in shoring up public safety in the wake of mass shootings, such as the May 24 event that killed 21 people, including 19 children, in a Uvalde school.

McManus said he would be meeting this week with officials from several local independent school districts and discuss school security.

Offering a general assessment, McManus said school security measures—ranging from physical infrastructure protections to security guards or school police departments—are typically “weak at best and not consistent.”

McManus suggested that safety be improved outside of school facilities in different ways.

“Security starts outside the building. Once you’re inside, it’s too late,” McManus said, describing what happens in case of an attack on a school.

McManus expressed a lack of confidence in the multiple proposals that Congress is currently considering toward deterring gun violence, given the amount of firearms in public circulation.

“To say [the proposals will] be effective is like putting a bucket into the ocean, pulling it out and saying you’re lowering the sea level,” McManus said.

McManus said efforts are underway to improve police response to mental health-related emergency calls.

The city in April 2022 launched a one-year, $1.7 million pilot program in which specially trained police officers, paramedics and licensed clinicians answer specific 911 calls involving individuals in mental distress.

McManus and Deputy City Manager Maria Villagomez said the program is designed to help reduce the number of arrests and redirect distressed individuals to the appropriate mental health assistance.

“We’re collecting data to see how the program is progressing. Meanwhile, mental health continues to be a priority for the City Council,” Villagomez said.

The city is surveying residents on the FY 2022-23 budget now through June 30.