San Antonio’s business community has spent two-and-a-half times more than the local firefighter union in the fight over caps on the city manager’s tenure and salary.

With new faces at the helm of both the city and fire union, both sides are optimistic that they'll be able to bargain this time instead of battling over a new contract.

SAN ANTONIO Sheryl Sculley, the former city manager of San Antonio, surely has peoples attention with the title of her new book, Greedy Bastards: One Citys Texas-sized Struggle to Avoid a Financial Crisis.Sculley, who served as city manager from 2005 to 2019, helped champion new labor contracts with the police and firefighter unions. Well, trying to change the 25 year old union contracts that had been in place for a very long time was a hardball experience. Police union approves new contractThe collective bargaining agreement with the San Antonio Police Officers Association, which was approved in 2016, saved the city and taxpayers more than $100 million, Sculley said. The San Antonio Professional Firefighters Associations collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 31, 2024. Fire union gets new contract after 5 yearsSculley said she wrote the book to help San Antonio residents understand the financial strain the city was experiencing and the importance of changing the contracts.

City crews have collected enough remnants caused by the tornadoes to cover one football field with 2 feet of debris. Solid waste crews are still making runs through battered neighborhoods and asking people to separate brush and debris. So far, city crews have collected more than 100 downed trees. Sculley also reminded storm victims they can call 311 if they need help removing and brush or debris from their property. City leaders said they are thankful and proud of the response of city crews and of the efforts from neighbors to help one another.