of Local Government Reorganization 
and City-County Integration in San Antonio o

1837  

An Act of the Congress of the Republic of Texas replaces the original charter granted to the Canary Islanders by the King of Spain.  Within the year it is replaced by a second Act renaming the City of Bexar as the City of San Antonio.

1856  

A new charter is enacted by the state Legislature, defining the city limits as a square, six miles on a side, centered on the cupola of San Fernando Church.

1876

The present Texas Constitution is adopted at the end of Reconstruction.  It rigidly specifies the structure of county governments and severely limits their powers.

1886  

The state Legislature enacts San Antonio’s fourth city charter. It continues the pattern of a Council of aldermen elected from wards.

1912  

The state constitution is amended to grant cities over 5,000 population “home rule.”  This includes the power to define its own structure of government and the right to assert any power that is not explicitly denied to cities by state law.

1914  

San Antonio adopts a home rule charter providing for a commission form of government.

1920  

San Antonio acquires its previous privately-owned water system and creates the City Water Board.  Bond indentures prevent expansion of the system to meet all the needs of growth in its service area until the 1960s.

1933  

A county home rule amendment allowing for city-county consolidation is added to the state constitution.  Efforts to draft county charters in Bexar, El Paso, Tarrant and Travis prove it is unworkable.  The amendment is eventually repealed as “deadwood” in 1969.

1940  

San Antonio engages in its first annexation since the city’s founding by the Canary Islanders.

1945  

A special Act of the Legislature creates the Bexar Metropolitan Water District to serve an area outside CWB’s jurisdiction.  Beginning in the mid-1980s, Bexar Met aggressively acquires other outlying water purveyors until it has multiple disconnected service areas scattered across Bexar and extending into adjacent counties.

1951  

San Antonio adopts a new charter providing for a “classic” Council-Manager form of government. A part-time Council of nine members is elected at-large and the Council elects the Mayor from among its membership.

1959

Under an Act of the Legislature, certain functions of the city’s Health Department are extended county-wide as the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District.

1963

The San Antonio Research and Planning Council publishes “A Bold Plan for Bexar County” following the success of “semi-consolidations” in Baton Rouge and Nashville.  The authorizing constitutional amendment fails to win Committee approval in the Legislature.

The Municipal Annexation Act imposes the first limits on involuntary annexation by a home rule city.  It also grants cities extra-territorial jurisdiction over subdivision development and monopoly annexation rights in areas graduated by city size.

1971

The Interlocal Cooperation Act provides a relatively broad grant of authority for intergovernmental contracting – limited principally by the short-term nature of the contracts it authorizes.

In following years, Bexar County contracts with San Antonio for library services outside the city limits and for animal control in the unincorporated area.  San Antonio contracts in turn for forensic services through the County Medical Examiner’s office.

1974

San Antonio’s charter is amended to provide for direct election of the Mayor.  Lila Cockrell is elected in 1975 as the first Mayor under the new system.

Bexar County contracts with San Antonio for Emergency Medical Service in the unincorporated area.  The contract is terminated in 1998, but San Antonio continues to provide EMS to several surrounded municipalities under separate contracts.

1975

The U.S. Department of Justice challenges San Antonio’s 1972 annexations under an extension of the Voting Rights Act.

1977

The charter is amended to expand Council from 9 to 11 members and to provide for 10 single-member Council districts.  The DOJ objection to the 1972 annexation is removed. Lila Cockrell, the last Mayor under the previous system, is re-elected as the first Mayor under the new system.

The San Antonio Transit System is replaced by VIA Metropolitan Transit under a new state law allowing regional transit authorities to levy up to a one-cent sales tax.  The VIA Board is appointed by City Council (5), Commissioners Court (3), and the suburban cities (2), and appoints its own chair as the 11th member.

1979

Amendments to the state Property Tax Code consolidate property tax appraisals in a system of county appraisal districts.  The appraisal district board is appointed by the existing local governments in proportion to their tax levies.

1989

The Legislature creates the Alamo Water Conservation and Reuse District to implement the re-use component of a 1988 regional water plan and to acquire additional sources of untreated surface water for resale to purveyors in Bexar County.

1990

Council appoints a Charter Review Committee to undertake a thorough review of the 1951 city charter.

1991

A Homeowner-Taxpayer Association initiative is approved amending the charter by limiting Council members to a lifetime total of two terms.

1992

The San Antonio Water System is created by combining the City Water Board, the city’s Wastewater Department and AWCRD.  Bexar Met, and the sewage collection and treatment jurisdictions of the San Antonio River Authority and Cibolo Creek Municipal Authority, are unaffected.

1993

At the end of the constitutional two-year moratorium on charter amendments, the 1990 Charter Review Committee recommends a massively detailed overhaul of the city charter. Before publication, an additional recommendation to pursue city-county consolidation is deleted from the final draft of the Committee’s report. Council cannot form a majority to take any immediate action.

Without publicity, State Senator Jeff Wentworth passes an amendment out of a Senate Committee authorizing city-county consolidation.

County Judge Cyndi Krier proposes a study of city-county parks consolidation.

1994

Judge Krier, Mayor Wolff and Councilman Howard Peak appoint an unofficial City-County Government Committee to develop new authorizing legislation for city-county consolidation.

1995

Sen. Wentworth introduces the authorizing amendment drafted by the City-County Government Committee. It passes the Senate 26-5 but fails in the House Committee because the Bexar delegation is not unanimous in support.

The unofficial Committee is replaced by a City-County Government Commission appointed by City Council and Commissioners Court. The Commission studies the potential for functional consolidations under existing law, refines the previous Committee’s draft constitutional amendment, and reports in 1996.Council opponents argue for additional city-county contracting as a more feasible alternative.

Mayor Bill Thornton appoints a select committee to recommend the charter amendments proposed in the 1993 committee report that should be placed on the ballot.

1996

In a legislative interim report, the Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee recommends a statewide initiative on city-county consolidation. Sen. Frank Madla dissents from the recommendation.

1997

Council and Commissioners Court officially endorse the consolidation amendment as an element of their legislative agendas.Sen. Madla becomes chairman of the Senate IGR Committee. He blocks the amendment in committee and it fails again in the House. An unofficial effort resumes as “Citizens for the Right to Vote.”

The charter is amended to delete deadwood, but the major recommendations of the 1990-93 Committee remain unimplemented.

Bexar County contracts with San Antonio to obtain consolidated management of reservations at all city and county parks.

1998

San Antonio becomes the last city in County to contract with the county for consolidated property tax collection.

1999

A revised amendment providing for county home rule with or without consolidation and a separate implementing Act containing procedures and guarantees fail again in the Legislature. The consolidation effort is abandoned.

2001

Mayor Ed Garza proposes a two-stage effort at charter revision; wins passage of three minor “accountability” amendments in the first stage.

County Judge Nelson Wolff and Mayor Garza initiate a multi-year Plan for City-County Cooperation and contracting under existing law.

2002

The first annual “Plan for City-County Cooperation” is adopted by Council and Commissioners Court. It contains a mission statement, goals/objectives, some general policy principles, and a work program for particular agreements to be concluded over the following year.

2003

Revision of the City-County Cooperation Plan is postponed during the Legislative session.An updated Plan with more detailed financial principles and a work program for FY 2004 is developed in the fall and adopted by both governing bodies early in 2004.

Mayor Garza initiates the second stage of comprehensive charter revision. A Citizens Committee appointed by City Council recommends proposed amendments to the term limit and an increase in Council compensation.

Judge Wolff and Mayor Garza initiate a new Citizens Commission on City-County Service Integration to recommend permanent functional consolidations and transfers between the city and county governments and special districts and to develop the required authorizing legislation.

2004

January: City Council and Commissioners Court adopt the financial principles and work program of the FY 2004 Plan for City-County Cooperation.

February: Council calls a referendum in May on city charter amendments limiting Council members to three consecutive three-year terms and increasing Council compensation to 75% of San Antonio’s median family income, updated automatically with each decennial census.

March: The subcommittees of the City-County Service Integration Commission offer their proposed recommendations for consideration by the full Commission.The Commission schedules public hearings to receive feedback before making its recommendations Council and Commissioners Court.

May: The City-County Service Integration Commission presents its Preliminary Report and recommendations to Council and Commissioners Court in time for the governing bodies to consider implementing some recommendations in their FY 2005 budgets. The Commission continues to develop the new legislation that may be required to implement other recommendations.

Summer/Fall: Council and Commissioners Court consider the Commission’s recommendations and incorporate proposed legislation in their legislative agendas for the 2005 Texas Legislature.

- Chronology compiled by Tom Brereton, March 2004