San Antonio - Government

Government

The City of San Antonio runs under a Council-Manager form of government. The city is divided into 10 council districts designed to ensure equal population distribution between all districts. Each district elects one person to sit on the City Council with the mayor elected on a city-wide basis. All members of the City Council, which includes the mayor, are elected to two-year terms and are limited to four terms in total (except for those who were in office in November, 2008 and are limited to a total of two terms). Houston and Laredo have similar term limits to those in San Antonio. All positions are elected on non-partisan ballots as required by Texas law. Council members are paid $20 per meeting, while the Mayor earns $4,000 a year. Most council members maintain full-time employment in addition to their positions on the council. The current mayor is Julian Castro.

The council hires the City Manager to handle day to day operations. The council effectively functions as the city's legislative body with the City Manager acting as its Chief Executive, responsible for the management of day to day operations and execution of council legislation. The current City Manager is Sheryl Sculley.

The city operates its own electric and gas utility service, CPS Energy.

The San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) is the city's municipal body of law enforcement.

The San Antonio Fire Department (SAFD) provides the city with fire protection and EMS service.

The city stretches into several national congressional districts and is represented in Congress by the following:

• Senate
  • Kay Bailey Hutchison (R)
  • John Cornyn (R)
• House of Representatives
  • Texas District 20: Charlie Gonzalez (D)
  • Texas District 21: Lamar Smith (R)
  • Texas District 23: Quico Canseco (R)
  • Texas District 28: Henry Cuellar (D)
• State Governor
  • Rick Perry (R)