San Antonio makes the right moves in tax-paid initiatives
San Antonians may have the lowest per capita incomes among America’s 10 most populous cities, but its citizens have demonstrated they are among the wisest stewards of taxpayer money.
This week, election officials certified the passage of three ballot measures that will help the nation’s seventh-largest city provide cutting-edge job training, public transportation to their new jobs and quality prekindergarten programs for their kids.
City and Bexar County leaders pitched the bond package as a COVID-19 relief package, but that’s not quite right. The Greater San Antonio area desperately needed these investments in the future long before the coronavirus struck and will benefit long after the disease lives on only in history books.
If only every city in Texas city would make such investments in its people.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg campaigned hard for the first bond, which will use $154 million to provide job training or college
degrees to 40,000 people who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic. The investment cannot come quick enough for those laid off from tourismrelated jobs that might not come back for two years or more.
The community has no time to lose. San Antonio’s per capita income was $25,091 in 2018, compared to $31,576 in Houston or $40,391 in Austin.
San Antonio’s public transportation authority, VIA, will receive 1⁄ of a cent from existing
8 sales tax revenues. The new revenue stream will help VIA match federal funds to upgrades routes, technology and equipment to help decrease reliance on personal automobiles.
Lastly, San Antonio also voted to continue leading the nation with its innovative early childhood education known as Pre-K 4 SA. Over eight years, the program has proven it can boost test scores, increase teacher training and improve student health.
San Antonians understand that investing in their people and infrastructure is the wisest way to boost the economy. San Antonio’s economy and home prices have all increased as dozens of companies decide to locate in Bexar county.
Moody’s, which rates the
creditworthiness of cities, states and counties, approved of the job training program, saying: “Increased employment and higher salaries will boost residents’ purchasing power and ultimately lift sales tax revenue, one of the city’s largest revenue sources.”
Houstonians should take note.
The Legislature passed a law requiring all districts to offer
universal access to full-day pre-K by 2023. But lawmakers made state funding for pre-K discretionary, which means they can cut it next year to meet budget goals.
More than 10,000 students still do not have access to pre-K in the Houston Independent School District, and programs remain short of qualified teachers. San Antonio’s dedicated funding sets it apart.
HISD also failed again to put any bond measure on the ballot. The district has not asked voters for infrastructure or technology improvements in eight years. Instead, the HISD school board has spent its time in petty political squabbles or answering federal agents’ questions about corruption.
Earlier this year, the federal government gave the city of Houston $405 million in COVID-19 relief money. Still, most of that money has gone to immediate public health needs, such as staffing and testing. City leaders need to recognize that many of the jobs lost during the pandemic are never coming back, and those workers need a hand finding a new career.
Harris County commissioners pulled together $2.4 million for Harris County Back to Work, which will offer training to 2,592 residents in nursing, construction and other trades. The program is a good, if small step.
Climate change, a growing population and limited space require that all Texas cities invest more in public transportation. We’ve learned the hard way that additional lanes fill up as fast as we can build them, and vehicles are now the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the country.
Houston’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority passed a $7.5 billion bond last year to upgrade the sprawling public transit system. The plan to add more and better bus services and add a new rail line is smart, something that San Antonio’s VIA should emulate.
Rather than spending millions of dollars offering tax breaks to attract employers, these are long-term investments in these communities. They also happen to be the top items on corporate wish lists when considering a new location: workforce, schools and infrastructure.
Investing in retraining is critical since a study by the World Economic Forum estimates that the value of a skill drops by half every five years. One in four workers say their training no longer applies to their current job, and people switch jobs on average every 4.2 years.
With life-long education and retraining critical for workers to remain relevant to the economy, San Antonio has a chance to demonstrate how communities can boost their economies by investing in the workforce.
Hopefully, Houston and other Texas cities will follow suit, especially during times of upheaval like the next few years.