A September survey by UTSA’s Center for Public Opinion Research found that more than 80% of San Antonio voters had never heard of the six charter amendments that will appear on their ballots in November.

A majority of the San Antonio City Council approved each of these items to go before voters following the months-long Charter Review Commission process.

Here’s the exact language voters will see on each of the proposals and what they should know about them before casting their ballots.

Proposal A: Ethical Revisions

• Article XIII, entitled Ethics Review Board, of the City Charter will be amended to add a definition of “conflict of interest”; require sufficient funding for the Ethics Review Board to carry out all its assigned duties, and to authorize the Ethics Review Board to accept or reject complaints resolved by an entity other than the Ethics Review Board?

Prop A makes some minor changes to the way the city functions Ethical Review Committee functions. The Ethics Review Board is an eleven-member citizen board with the authority to enforce and punish violations of the City Code relating to ethics, lobbying, and municipal campaign finance, and whose members are appointed by the San Antonio City Council and the Mayor.

Statement B: Language modernization

• Shall the following sections of the City Charter be amended to revise or delete provisions superseded by state law and to adapt archaic language to current usage: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 45, 46, 47, 49, 51, 52, 53, 53a, 54, 55, 56, 58, 67, 68, article VA, 69, 70, 71, 72, 75, 76, 77, 78, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84 , 85, 87, 89, 91, 93, 95, 96, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, Article VIII, 112, 117, 119, 121, 122, 123, 123A, 124, 125, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135 and 136?

Prop B amends several parts of San Antonio’s city charter to update or remove outdated language, but makes no substantive changes to the way the city functions. This includes adding gender-neutral language and changing language to reflect current practices of city departments.

Proposal C: City Manager Tenure and Compensation

• Will the City of San Antonio Charter be amended to grant the City Council the authority to set the full terms and conditions of employment of the City Manager, including tenure and compensation?

Prop C would remove the salary and tenure limits that San Antonio voters placed on the city manager position in 2018. The current salary cap is no more than 10 times the lowest paid city employee, which currently amounts to a salary of approximately $370,000 for the city manager. . The current term limit is eight years.

Voters approved these city manager limits by a wide margin after the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association pushed the proposals during a contract negotiation battle with then-City Manager Sheryl Sculley.

Advocates on the City Council have said that because they appoint and fire city officials, they need the authority to decide how much they should be paid and how long they can work for the city. Several people have also suggested that it will be difficult to hire a new city manager after City Manager Erik Walsh retires in 2027 if candidates know they only have a job for eight years.

Opponents in the community have said that the city manager — the most powerful figure in the city’s governing system — should be term-limited, just like elected officials, and that if the city wants to increase the position’s salary, it can do so through wage increases for the lowest. paid city employees.

Proposition D: Political activity by city employees

• Will the City of San Antonio Charter be amended to allow city employees to participate in local political activities in accordance with state and federal law, while protecting employees from political retaliation and a blanket ban on participation of local political activities for the city’s leadership team is maintained?

Prop D would eliminate a 72-year ban on city employees from participating in city politics, even when not on the job. Currently, these employees cannot do things such as canvassing for or donating to municipal political candidates. If voters approve Prop D, city employees would still not be allowed to participate in city politics while on the job or in uniform.

This charter amendment was put to the vote after a successful lobbying effort by the American Federation for State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

Proposal E: Compensation for the municipality

• Will the City of San Antonio Charter be amended to set and limit compensation for City Council members and the Mayor at $70,200 and $87,800 per year, with annual future adjustments to correlate with the average income of a four-member household in the United States for Housing and Urban Development for San Antonio, and authorize a council member or the mayor to reject all or part of the established compensation?

Prop E would give city council members and the mayor about $25,000 from their current salaries of $45,722 and $61,725, respectively. The current salaries were established in 2015 and selected based on the average median income of the San Antonio area at that time.

The proposed salaries, as the gag language states, would be indexed and therefore change as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s four-member median household income for San Antonio changes.

Supporters of the change at the City Council have said that if council pay does not improve, it will leave the city’s legislative body dominated by wealthy residents who can afford it.

Opponents, including the three attorneys on the council, have said they believe it is a poor use of city tax dollars.

Proposal F: Municipal council conditions

• Shall the Charter of the City of San Antonio be amended to extend the terms of office of all elected members of the City Council, including the Mayor, from two (2) years to four (4) years and change the term limits from four (4) full convert conditions into two (2) full conditions, while keeping the conditions concurrent?

Prop F would keep the maximum terms for council members and the mayor at eight years, but extend the terms from two to four years. Certain districts would require special elections through early 2030 to ensure that no member currently on the council has served more than their maximum eight years. Under this new system, voters could still dismiss their council members early through a recall vote.

Supporters said longer terms would give newly elected council members more time to learn the job and properly represent their constituents, and would reduce the amount of time spent campaigning relative to a member’s term in office. They also said it would provide greater continuity for district representation and reduce the cost of running elections for the city.

Opponents said that because the city council is the most local form of government, residents should have the power to change their representatives more quickly, and that it is not necessarily a bad thing that elected representatives are always in campaign mode to ensure that the needs of their constituents are satisfied.

Early voting begins on October 21st and Election Day is November 5th.