As mayor and VIA press forward on sales tax proposals, fate of aquifer protection still unsettled
Joshua Fechter, Staff writer
Aug. 10, 2020 Updated: Aug. 10, 2020 10:42 p.m.
The Frio River flows through the Annandale Ranch. In 2007, San Antonio Water System bought a 7,553-acre conservation easement on the Sabinal ranch. Now, City Council has a new plan to fund the Edwards Aquifer Protection program, but the plan is flawed.
Josie Norris /Staff photographerShow MoreShow Less
Sprinkler systems like this one in San Antonio's Monte Vista neighborhood will only be allowed to operate one day a week under Stage 1 lawn-watering rules. The Edwards Aquifer Authority declared Stage 1 implementation of its drought-management plan Thursday.
File / San Antoino Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
A steer stands along the driveway of the Annandale Ranch in Sabinal, Texas, Feb. 14, 2020. The Edwards Aquifer Protection Program has spent more than $260 million in sales tax funds since 2000 to acquire about 160,000 acres of sensitive land over the aquifer. Sitting above the aquifer, the Annandale Ranch has been in Bill Cofer's family for 130 years and in 2007, the San Antonio Water System bought a 7,553-acre conservation easement on the ranch- one of the last easements purchased by SAWS before the EAPP took over.
Josie Norris/Staff PhotographerShow MoreShow Less
Water pours over limestone rocks in the Frio River that winds through the Dripstone Ranch in Sabinal, Texas, as seen Feb. 14, 2020. The Edwards Aquifer Protection Program has spent more than $260 million in sales tax funds since 2000 to acquire about 160,000 acres of sensitive land over the aquifer. Dripstone Ranch is a recent major acquisition by the EAPP. The program paid a local developer, Pat Kennedy, nearly $8 million for an easement: a permanent restriction on most development.
Bill Cofer walks inside the Frio Bat Cave on the Annandale Ranch in Sabinal, Texas, Feb. 14, 2020. The Edwards Aquifer Protection Program has spent more than $260 million in sales tax funds since 2000 to acquire about 160,000 acres of sensitive land over the aquifer. Sitting above the aquifer, the Annandale Ranch has been in Cofer's family for 130 years and in 2007, the San Antonio Water System bought a 7,553-acre conservation easement on the ranch- one of the last easements purchased by SAWS before the EAPP took over.
Dripstone Ranch Supervisor Farron Sultmeier walks along the dry riverbed of the Frio River at the ranch in Sabinal, Texas, Feb. 14, 2020. The Edwards Aquifer Protection Program has spent more than $260 million in sales tax funds since 2000 to acquire about 160,000 acres of sensitive land over the aquifer. Dripstone Ranch is a recent major acquisition by the EAPP. The program paid a local developer, Pat Kennedy, nearly $8 million for an easement: a permanent restriction on most development.
The dried up Frio River bed that winds through the Dripstone Ranch in Sabinal, Texas, Feb. 14, 2020. The Edwards Aquifer Protection Program has spent more than $260 million in sales tax funds since 2000 to acquire about 160,000 acres of sensitive land over the aquifer. Dripstone Ranch is a recent major acquisition by the EAPP. The program paid a local developer, Pat Kennedy, nearly $8 million for an easement: a permanent restriction on most development.
As Mayor Ron Nirenberg and VIA Metropolitan Transit officials scramble to get San Antonio voters to back a sales tax for an economic recovery plan in the wake of the coronavirus disaster and to expand the transit system in the future, the original purpose of that tax has all but vanished from the public eye.
That has supporters of a program to protect San Antonio's primary source of drinking water seriously concerned that it could lose funding altogether.
The one-eighth-cent sales tax that Nirenberg and VIA have set their sights on currently pays to protect the Edwards Aquifer and to build linear parks and creekways. It's proved very popular with voters, who have approved the tax four times since 2000.
Since 2000, San Antonio voters have approved four five-year propositions to fund the acquisition of properties and conservation easements located on the environmentally sensitive recharge and contributing zones. Video: Mike Fisher
The mayor wants to spend the sales tax revenue on an ambitious plan to train and educate the unemployed for better-paying jobs. After Nirenberg's plan has taken its cut of the money, VIA officials want to claim a share for improvements to mass transit.
The future of the aquifer program — which since 2000 has protected about 160,000 acres at a cost of $260 million — has yet to be decided, despite months of debate.
"I think it's extraordinarily disrespectful to the people of San Antonio," said Annalisa Peace, executive director of the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance.
Bill Cofer walks inside the Frio Bat Cave on the Annandale Ranch in Sabinal last February. The Edwards Aquifer Protection Program has spent more than $260 million in sales tax funds since 2000 to acquire about 160,000 acres of sensitive land over the aquifer.
Josie Norris /Staff Photographer
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The program's popularity among voters shouldn't be dismissed, she said. "And they're just totally ignoring that," she said of city and VIA officials.
City officials have landed on one proposal to continue the program at about half the funding, using other city money, but that option has made supporters of the current program anxious.
The city would use $100 million over a decade out of money it already receives from the San Antonio Water System and from bonds. A city-commissioned study showed that amount was enough to meet the city's water needs through 2070.
The City Council was expected to vote on the proposal in April, but the COVID-19 pandemic scuttled those plans.
Now, the council will likely take up the measure next month.
Bill Cofer stands along the Frio River on the Annandale Ranch in Sabinal, Texas, Feb. 14, 2020. The Edwards Aquifer Protection Program has spent more than $260 million in sales tax funds since 2000 to acquire about 160,000 acres of sensitive land over the aquifer. Sitting above the aquifer, the Annandale Ranch has been in Cofer's family for 130 years and in 2007, the San Antonio Water System bought a 7,553-acre conservation easement on the ranch- one of the last easements purchased by SAWS before the EAPP took over.
Josie Norris/Staff Photographer
That proposal could later be supplemented with voter-approved bonds, but that would require a change to the city charter, the city's chief financial officer, Ben Gorzell, said Monday during a meeting of the Conservation Advisory Board, which oversees the program.
Anxieties remained about the proposal — chiefly that the council could choose to wipe out the program without voters having a say.
"I think it could preserve the program as we know it," board chair Francine Romero said of the proposal. "But I just want to be really frank to people that the big difference with moving to this is one majority vote from council could end the whole thing."
Gorzell tried to ease some of those concerns by pointing out potential safeguards. The city would still be on the hook to pay off bonds used to secure conservation easements once the city-run program begins in 2022, he said.
The city would also contract with one of its own local government corporations to run the program; if the council wanted to end the program, it would have to break the contract.
The sales tax that funds the program is set to expire at the end of April, when it's expected to hit the $100 million mark set by voters.
It's estimated that the city will use the money generated by the sales tax for the aquifer, parks and creekways in 2023, Gorzell said.
A coalition including members of the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance and the Sierra Club had put forth their own proposal earlier this year to allow voters to decide whether to extend the sales tax for two years for aquifer protection and linear creeks and parkways.
But that push, Peace said, has been abandoned.
Nirenberg has said he's determined to continue the aquifer protection program in some form, re-upping that promise in a San Antonio Express-News op-ed Monday.
The mayor had sought a new home for the program since he and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff eyed the sales tax to fund expanded bus service and transit initiatives last year.
Nirenberg pushed for months to move the program to SAWS before shifting to the current city proposal.
The mayor backed off the transit push in light of the pandemic — to the chagrin of VIA board members, who vowed to press on without the mayor, who wanted the tax for economic recovery.
Outside the main gate of the Annandale Ranch in Sabinal, Texas, Feb. 14, 2020. The Edwards Aquifer Protection Program has spent more than $260 million in sales tax funds since 2000 to acquire about 160,000 acres of sensitive land over the aquifer. Sitting above the aquifer, the Annandale Ranch has been in Bill Cofer's family for 130 years and in 2007, the San Antonio Water System bought a 7,553-acre conservation easement on the ranch- one of the last easements purchased by SAWS before the EAPP took over.
The two sides struck a compromise, but voters will have the final say in November. Under the deal, the city would hang on to the sales tax for four years to fund job training and higher education programs for those put out of work by the pandemic.
After that, VIA would get the tax revenue to fund its expansion program.
Council members will get a second briefing on the recovery plan Tuesday and will decide Thursday whether to put the measure on the November ballot.
The aquifer protection program has no part in the deal.
Joshua Fechter is a staff writer covering San Antonio government and politics. To read more from Joshua, become a subscriber. jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFreports
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Joshua Fechter is a reporter covering City Hall and San Antonio politics for the Express-News. He previously covered real estate, economic development, retail and tourism. Upon graduating from Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin in 2014, Joshua joined the Express-News in 2014 as a breaking news reporter.