San Antonio City Charter: Home Rule, Budget, and Amendments

The San Antonio City Charter is the city’s home-rule constitution. It incorporates San Antonio as a municipal government, creates a council-manager system led by an elected mayor and ten council members with a hired city manager running operations, and sets the rules for budgets, elections, ethics, and how voters can change the document itself. The charter was most recently amended by voters in November 2024, when propositions extended council terms and removed longstanding limits on the city manager’s tenure and salary.

What Home Rule Means for San Antonio

The Texas Constitution lets any city with more than 5,000 residents adopt its own charter by majority vote and govern itself under broad powers of self-government.¹ San Antonio has operated under that framework since the early twentieth century. Article I of the charter incorporates the city as a legal body with perpetual succession, so the entity continues regardless of who holds office or how the population shifts.²

In practice, home rule lets San Antonio pass ordinances, enter contracts, own property, and sue or be sued without asking the Texas Legislature for permission each time.² The city holds every municipal power not specifically prohibited by state or federal law.³ The charter itself draws the outer boundary.

Who Runs the City

Article II of the charter sets up the City Council as the legislative and policy-making body. Ten members are elected from single-member districts, and a mayor is elected at-large by the whole city.² The mayor presides over council meetings and represents the city ceremonially and during emergencies, but does not run daily operations.

To run for either office, a candidate must be a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years old, and a San Antonio resident for at least one year before filing. District candidates must have lived in their district for at least six months before filing and must keep residing there throughout the term.⁴

Four-Year Terms, Two-Term Cap

Until 2024, council members and the mayor served two-year terms with a four-term cap. In November 2024, voters approved Proposition F, which extended each term to four years and reduced the cap to two consecutive terms.⁵ The maximum time one person can hold a single seat remains eight years. Elected officials now face voters half as often. The measure passed with roughly 53 percent of the vote.

The City Manager

San Antonio uses a council-manager form of government established in Article II, Section 2. All municipal powers are vested in the elected council, which passes laws, adopts budgets, and sets policy. The council then appoints a City Manager, hired for executive and administrative experience, to serve as the chief administrative officer of the city.²

The manager has broad control over daily operations, including the power to appoint and remove department heads and oversee every employee in the administrative service.² The council can remove the manager by a majority vote of the full body.

Before November 2024, the charter capped the manager at eight years in office and limited the manager’s salary to ten times the pay of the lowest-paid full-time city employee. Voters approved Proposition C, removing both restrictions.⁵ The manager’s tenure is now indefinite, and the council sets the salary without a formula-based ceiling. The measure passed with about 54 percent of the vote. Supporters argued the old caps made recruiting and retaining top talent harder; opponents said the change reduced accountability.

If a Council Seat Opens

When a seat opens mid-term, Texas law generally requires a special election within 120 days of a vacancy for cities with three- or four-year terms. Home rule cities like San Antonio can set their own procedure by charter for vacancies where the unexpired term is 12 months or less.⁶

How Voters Can Push Back

Article IV reserves two forms of direct democracy, and the charter adds a third tool for removing officials. Initiative and referendum petitions both require signatures from at least 10 percent of the qualified voters registered at the last regular city election.⁷

Initiative

An initiative lets voters propose a new ordinance by filing a petition with the City Clerk. If the petition has enough valid signatures and the council does not adopt the proposed ordinance, the Clerk must submit it to voters at a regular or special election.⁷ Some subjects are off-limits. Voters cannot use an initiative to appropriate money, levy taxes, grant franchises, fix utility rates, or rezone property.³

Referendum

A referendum challenges an ordinance the council has already passed. Opponents must file their petition within 40 days of final passage. A sufficient petition halts the ordinance from taking effect until voters decide.⁷ Ordinances that appropriate money, levy taxes, or fix utility rates cannot be challenged this way.³

Recall

Article IV, Section 26 allows voters to recall any council member or the mayor. A recall petition must state the general grounds for removal and carry signatures from at least 10 percent of the qualified electors in the member’s district, or 10 percent of all citywide qualified electors for the mayor. The City Clerk has 20 days to verify signatures. If the petition is certified, the council must order a recall election to be held between 30 and 40 days after the petition is presented. If the official resigns first, no election is held.³

Automatic Forfeiture

Forfeiture is faster and does not involve voters. Under Article II, Section 7, a council member immediately forfeits the seat if they stop meeting the qualifications for office, such as moving out of their district. The same consequence applies to any member who misses three consecutive regular meetings without being excused by the council.² No petition and no election.

The Annual Budget

San Antonio’s fiscal year runs October 1 through September 30. Each year, the City Manager prepares a complete budget covering proposed spending for all departments, capital projects, debt payments, and expected revenue, along with a five-year outlook for capital projects.²

The council holds at least one public hearing with at least 10 days advance notice before voting. If the council increases total proposed spending, it must identify new revenue so the budget stays balanced. The appropriation ordinance must be adopted no later than September 27 each year. For the fiscal year beginning October 2025, the adopted budget totals roughly $4.06 billion.⁸

Other Bodies the Charter Creates

Municipal Court

Article VIII establishes San Antonio’s municipal courts as courts of record. Unlike the mayor and council, municipal judges are not elected. The City Council appoints them to two-year terms.⁹

Ethics Review Board

Article XIII creates an independent Ethics Review Board to enforce the city’s ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance rules. The board has 11 members: the mayor and each council member nominate one, and each nominee needs confirmation by a majority of the council. The board can compel sworn testimony and evidence, refer cases for criminal prosecution, and impose civil fines of up to $500 per violation. Other sanctions include letters of reprimand, disqualification from city contracts or lobbying, mandatory ethics training, and recommendations to void a contract obtained through a violation.¹⁰ Its jurisdiction reaches elected officials, city employees, and anyone whose conduct could affect public trust in city government.

Civil Service

Article VI sets up a civil service framework for city employees, with specific protections for fire and police personnel. The Firefighters’ and Police Officers’ Civil Service Commission has three members appointed by the City Manager and ratified by the City Council, serving staggered three-year terms.¹¹ The system is designed to keep hiring and discipline for uniformed employees based on merit rather than political pressure.

How the Charter Itself Gets Changed

Only voters can change the charter. The City Council places proposed amendments on the ballot, often acting on recommendations from a Charter Review Commission made up of San Antonio residents who conduct research and gather public input.¹² Under the Texas Constitution, amendments pass by simple majority, and no city charter can be amended more than once every two years.¹

The latest round of changes came in November 2024, when voters approved multiple propositions reshaping council term lengths, city manager tenure rules, and other structural provisions. The two-year minimum between amendment cycles gives each set of changes time to take effect before voters are asked to revise the document again.

1
Justia Law. Texas Constitution Article 11 Section 5
2
City of San Antonio. Charter of the City of San Antonio
3
City of San Antonio. San Antonio Code – City Charter
4
City of San Antonio. Become a Candidate – City of San Antonio
5
Bexar County. Election Results
6
Office of the Texas Secretary of State. Terms, Qualifications, and Vacancies
7
City of San Antonio. Petitions – City of San Antonio
8
City of San Antonio. Adopted Budget – City of San Antonio
9
Municode. San Antonio Code of Ordinances – Article VIII Municipal Court
10
City of San Antonio. The City of San Antonio Ethics Code
11
City of San Antonio. Commissions and Committees – City of San Antonio
12
City of San Antonio. Charter Review Commission – City of San Antonio