San Marcos council extends police and fire meet-and-confer agreements, approves pay increases and asks staff to seek public negotiation ground rules

San Marcos — The San Marcos City Council on Nov. 5 approved one-year extensions to the city’s meet-and-confer agreements for its police and fire departments and approved base-pay increases scheduled to take effect Oct. 1, 2026. Council also added direction asking the city manager to request that the ground rules for the 2027 contract negotiations include broader public access and document disclosure provisions.

The council approved a memorandum of understanding to extend the fire meet-and-confer agreement to Sept. 30, 2027 and to provide a 4.5% base pay increase for firefighters beginning Oct. 1, 2026. The council later approved a separate memorandum extending the police agreement to Sept. 30, 2027 with a 5% base pay increase for police officers beginning Oct. 1, 2026. The police motion passed on a 7–0 vote; the fire agreement was approved following debate and amendment (final tally not specified in the record).

City staff, in a presentation to council, described the meet-and-confer process as governed by chapter 142 of the Texas Local Government Code and said the process provides flexibility for recruitment and discipline. A staff presenter noted that meet-and-confer has allowed the city to adopt programs such as lateral-entry hiring and to extend investigation timelines from 180 to 300…