SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio’s business community has spent more than two and a half times as much money as the local firefighters union in a fight over tenure and salary caps for city officials.
Renew SA, a political action committee backed by some of the city’s biggest business figures, has spent nearly $424,000 through Oct. 26, campaign finance records show. Meanwhile, the San Antonio Firefighters Association voted against Proposition C, costing the PAC nearly $167,000.
Both campaigns spent a lot of money on advertising and consulting. Renew SA spent $146,000 on direct mail advertising alone.
Renew SA supports all six charter amendments on the San Antonio ballot. The proposal has garnered the most attention as the fire union fights an attempt to eliminate the cap, which it campaigned for in 2018 as part of a contract extension fight with the city.
Supporters of Prop C would force city managers to retire after eight years and cap their salaries at 10 times that of minimum-wage city employees, making it harder to attract quality candidates. He said it was possible. The fire union says the city hasn’t had a chance to determine whether the cap is actually a problem, suggesting the cap would bring more balance to San Antonio’s city manager-led style of government. said.
Read more: It all depends on how it’s framed — UTSA says ballot language will cause major change in opinion on San Antonio charter amendment
Renew SA has raised more than $544,000, the majority of which came from major donors who raised at least $10,000. USAA, HEB, Frost, Valero, the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and Silver Ventures President Kit Goldsberry each wrote a $50,000 check for the campaign.
Former city manager Cheryl Scully, whose $475,000 base salary was a driving force in her 2018 campaign, also donated $1,000.
Renew SA has tripled the funding, but fire unions could go deeper if they wish.
Vote Against Prop C’s more than $177,000 in donations came almost entirely from SAPFFA’s standing PAC, which had nearly $920,000 donated before the start of the current campaign.
Renew SA’s campaign manager has previously said it plans to spend more than $1 million, but the fire union has the advantage of human resources. Firefighters wearing yellow shirts and holding signs can often be seen at polling stations.
Additionally, their identity as firefighters has inherent benefits.
“I think I just saw that the fire department was against it, so I took that as a cue,” Joseph Almeter said, voting “no” on all six proposals. He told KSAT after pitching.
Despite the big spending, it’s an uphill battle for both sides to warn voters that the proposal is just that.
A poll conducted by the UTSA Polling Center just before early voting began found that 71.5% of San Antonio voters didn’t even know the six amendments were on the ballot.
Hector Romero said he was surprised to see them at the end of his ballot. He read the proposals at the polling station but decided not to vote for any of them.
“Yes, I mean, I read it. Had I understood that, I would have made a decision, but there was no clear choice,” he said.
For more information on San Antonio’s six charter amendments, check out KSAT’s election preview article here.
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