City Manager Sheryl Sculley and her staff on Wednesday floated the idea of a “transportation fee” as a way to generate new revenue to fund expansion of projects aimed at quelling San Antonio’s congestion.

The City of Austin assesses such a fee, and dedicates it to street maintenance and markings, traffic signals, signage and sidewalks, according to city officials. Austin is expected to generate nearly $70 million from it in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.

Assistant City Manager Maria Villagómez explained the scenario during an all-day council goal-setting session for the fiscal year 2018 budget. Elected officials first heard of the idea Wednesday during wide-ranging budget discussions.

Councilman Greg Brockhouse, who’s taken on a hawkish role on “process” issues, was flabbergasted.

“There’s been absolutely zero briefing as to what that is, what that does, what it means, where it comes from, how it works, who manages it,” he said. “It sets a bad tone. People are going to see that and think ‘tax increase, tolls,’ whatever. And we really don’t know what it is.”

Mayor Ron Nirenberg, too, noted that it was the first time he’d seen the presentation.

“I agree with you. That’s a jarring concept, which is why I’ll tell you this is the first time I’ve heard about it, too,” he said. “I think we need to set ground rules for a discussion about it.”

Brockhouse responded that he wasn’t suggesting that it not be discussed but wanted to note that it was an entirely new concept for the council, which was attempting to give direction to city staff on how to craft a $2.5 billion budget over the next six weeks.

“I appreciate the word ‘jarring’ because that’s what that looks like,” he said. “And that’s what it’s going to look like to the public.”

In Austin, the fee is tacked onto utility bills, and residential customers pay set monthly fees based on the type of dwelling: The fee for houses and garage apartments is $11.52 monthly, while it’s $10.37 for duplexes; multi-family units pay between $8.65 and $8.76, and mobile homes are billed $7.62 monthly.

Commercial customers are charged based on a formula that starts at $57.64 per developed acre, which is then multiplied by a coefficient based on usage categories and business types.

Francisco A. Gónima, the consultant who facilitated Wednesday’s meeting, said the idea came about after he’d met with council members individually and then was reporting back to city staff on the directions the elected officials wanted to go.

“The genesis was, as I was meeting with staff, feeding back what y’all were talking about from your interviews, where streets and sidewalks and transportation were in the top three with public safety, staff was scratching their heads, saying, ‘Well, heck — how do we pay for that?’” he said. “And so they wanted to come to you with different possibilities, ideas, etc., to consider to speak to the things you said you were asking for.”

Afterward, Nirenberg said city staff’s charge is to give the council “the universe of concepts and ideas to make this city work, and make it be affordable and attractive and highly functioning.” And they did, he said. Now it’s up to the council to decide whether to deliberate the idea.

Nirenberg said he’s never been a fan of tacking on fees because they tend to harm lower-income residents more.

“The instructions I gave to staff were, if we’re going to have a conversation on the revenue side of the ledger, it must be dedicated to transportation,” he said. “This can’t just be additional revenue for the city.”

District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez said the dialogue Wednesday seemed fruitful.

“I think our job is to have difficult conversations. I think that’s why people elected us,” he said. “I’m willing to have difficult conversations for as long as anybody wants to and about anything that people want to have.”

Council members also discussed the need to bring on more police officers, firefighters and big pieces of equipment — such as additional ladder trucks for SAFD. They appeared supportive of Rey Saldaña’s continued push for more funding for VIA Metropolitan Transit. He’s seeking — and will likely get with the new council — city funds that would allow the transit agency to increase the frequency of its busiest lines. And there was consensus on the need for more sidewalks and traffic-calming devices, such as speed bumps.

Councilwoman Ana Sandoval also implored the city to take an easy first step in working toward ideals in the Paris climate accord, which the council last week resolved to support. She asked that the council stop drinking bottled water and switch to reusable glass containers.

“It’s low-hanging fruit we can start to implement now,” she said, noting that the city spends hundreds of thousands of dollars annually on bottled water.

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