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All in how you frame it — UTSA says ballot language causes big opinion shift on San Antonio charter amendments

A September poll shows voters opposed removing city manager caps, but a new poll shows them generally in favor

SAN ANTONIO – A pair of recent polls suggest San Antonio voters are somehow both overwhelmingly opposed to, but also generally in favor of, removing caps on the city manager’s salary and tenure.

It all depends on how you ask the question.

The University of Texas at San Antonio’s Center for Public Opinion Research (CPOR) polled likely voters in September and October about the six proposed city charter amendments on the Nov. 5 ballot. However, it recorded big shifts in voters’ opinions, depending on whether it used plain language to describe the amendments or the exact ballot language.

Proposition C, which would remove the voter-approved caps on the San Antonio City Manager’s salary and tenure, saw one of the biggest shifts in opinion.

When the CPOR conducted its September poll, it described Prop C as “Another proposed amendment to the city charter that would remove the caps on the salary of the city manager, as well as the number of years a person could serve in the position as city manager.”

Based on that description, nearly 69% opposed the amendment, and less than 17% were in favor.

However, when the center changed its phasing during its Oct. 15-20 survey to use the exact wording on the ballot, which does not mention the current caps, support shot up to almost 43%, and only 27% were opposed.

CITY OF SAN ANTONIO - PROPOSITION C: CITY MANAGER TENURE AND COMPENSATION “Shall the Charter of the City of San Antonio be amended to grant to City Council the authority to set the full terms of the City Manager’s employment including tenure and compensation?”

Nov. 5 ballot language

The change in language brought UTSA’s polling more in line with the results of polling done for the pro-charter change PAC, Renew SA. The results of polling performed by Baselice & Associates found that 45% of likely voters were in favor of Prop C, with 31% opposing it.

“I think yeah, absolutely, there is a big disconnect between what they understand the ballot language to mean and their actual support for the removal of the caps. You know, I think that’s probably pretty clear from the data,” CPOR Director Bryan Gervais told reporters during a Thursday briefing on the poll results.

The amendments are also going largely unnoticed on a lengthy Nov. 5 ballot with dozens of federal, state, judicial, and county races ahead of them.

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UTSA’s September poll found nearly 81% of voters had not even heard of the proposed changes. That number only fell to a little less than 72% in the October poll.

“So we’d say, well, it’s a problem, A — people are going into the voting booth completely unaware of this stuff. It’s also a problem if they’re not only going in unaware but don’t really understand what they’re reading and what it means,” Gervais said.

‘MANIPULATIVE’

Led by the fire union in 2018, 59% of voters agreed to install those caps, limiting the position to a salary 10 times the lowest-paid city employees and only eight years on the job.

Current City Manager Erik Walsh’s base salary is capped at $374,400, based on the city’s $18 per hour starting wage, and he will need to leave the city’s top administrative role by March 2027. He gets an additional $16,200 from various incentives and allowances but is not eligible for bonus pay.

Between the Renew SA PAC and the San Antonio Business Coalition, the business community has rallied behind Prop C. Supporters say it makes the city less competitive in attracting top talent.

“We’re educating people, one, that it’s on the ballot, two, what the ballot language is, but also on the importance of these,” Renew SA Campaign Director Kelton Morgan said.

Renew SA’s website, though, makes no mention that voters approved the caps in the first place.

Asked if it behooved the campaign for voters to not make that connection, Morgan said, “it behooves the campaign to campaign on what the voters will be voting on.”

The 2018 charter election was yet another front of a years-long contract war between the city and the union, both under different leadership at the time. Still, the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association has come out against the attempt to reverse the caps they helped install.

SAPFFA President Joe Jones said “quite a bit” of the union’s strategy relies on reminding voters that they passed the caps in the first place. He called the ballot language “manipulative.”

“Obviously they don’t want to mention, you know, salary boundaries and term limits because the people are in favor of salary boundaries and term limits. And we know that because that question was asked and answered six years ago,” Jones said.

SHIFTS IN OPINION

Prop C was not the only charter amendment to see a shift in opinion between September’s plain language survey and October’s official ballot language.

Prop B, which would clean up outdated language but make no substantive changes, saw a dramatic drop in support and nearly 55% say they weren’t sure if they supported it. Gervais said pollsters believe many respondents decided to simply say they were unsure, rather than read the lengthy ballot language, which lists out dozens of sections of the charter.

Prop E, which would raise council members and the mayor’s salaries from $45,722 and $61,725, saw support nearly double from 27% to 52%.

The wording in both the September and October polls lists the new, proposed salary levels of $70,200 and $87,800. However, the descriptive language in September described it as an “increase,” while the ballot language says the change would “set and limit” the salaries. The ballot language also spells out that future raises would be tied to the area’s median income.

“What we believe is that voters think this means that it’s going to be reduced or limited to this, not that this represents a raise compared to what they’re currently currently receiving,” Gervais said.

Props A, D and F, which deal with the Ethics Review Board, city employee political activity, and changing council terms from two years to four years, all polled relatively similarly between September and October.

All six amendments polled similarly between UTSA’s October poll and Renew SA’s poll, which also used the exact ballot language.

For more information on San Antonio’s six charter amendments, check out KSAT’s election preview story HERE.

The full side-by-side results of both UTSA CPOR polls and Renew SA’s are below. Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number.


About the Authors
Garrett Brnger headshot

Garrett Brnger is a reporter with KSAT 12.

Adam Barraza headshot

Adam Barraza is a photojournalist at KSAT 12 and an El Paso native. He interned at KVIA, the local ABC affiliate, while still in high school. He then moved to San Antonio and, after earning a degree from San Antonio College and the University of the Incarnate Word, started working in news. He’s also a diehard Dodgers fan and an avid sneakerhead.

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