San Antonio officials warn HB 19 would sharply limit local borrowing and curb capital projects

City officials told the San Antonio City Council on April 30 that House Bill 19, a proposed state law, would place a severe cap on local governments’ ability to issue debt and could substantially restrict San Antonio’s ability to fund capital projects such as streets, public safety facilities and other infrastructure.

Jeff, a member of the city’s intergovernmental relations team, told the council that “it caps ... how much debt we can issue. It essentially says that you can only have debt service payments ... equal to 20% of your property tax collections in a year. Actually, it's an average over 3 years.” He said San Antonio and many other taxing entities are already above that cap and estimated the city would not fall below the cap until 2036 under the filed version of the bill.

The cap, Jeff said, could mean “no new bond programs, no other capital investments for more than a decade.” He said a substitute version under discussion would apply the cap only to new debt, which would delay but not eliminate the underlying constraint.

Why it matters: City leaders and staff emphasized that bonds and short-term debt instruments finance a wide range of investments — from road resurfacing and cybersecurity to libraries, airport and parking projects, judicial facilities and shelters. Troy Elliott, identified in the briefing as the city’s deputy chief financial officer, and other staff warned that constraining debt capacity would force…