Fifty jobs. Under San Antonio’s current incentive guidelines, that is the job threshold a company has to clear to be considered for a tax break. Under the rules city staff want for 2027 and 2028, the number would be 25.
That change, and several others, sit in a three-page memo the San Antonio City Council heard as a briefing on Thursday, Oct. 15 (item 7, agenda memorandum 26-224526, packet pages 9 to 11). There was no vote that day. The memo lists the fiscal impact as “This item is for briefing purposes only.” The vote is scheduled for the Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026 A Session.
The deadline is real. According to the memo, state law requires the guidelines to be reauthorized every two years, and the current set expires Dec. 31, 2026.
What the guidelines are
These are the city’s rules for deciding which companies can get public incentives, and on what terms. The memo cites two pieces of state law. Chapter 312 of the Texas Tax Code, it says, gives local governments the authority to enter into tax abatement agreements to attract new companies and keep and expand existing ones. Chapter 380 of the Texas Government Code, it says, lets the city issue grants and rebate taxes for economic projects. Chapter 380 does not require Council to re-approve its guidelines every two years, the memo notes, but staff reviews them on the same schedule.
The tools could not open the state statute text, so the description of those laws here is the city’s, not ours.
The memo says the 2027-2028 version keeps the “performance-based” guidelines Council approved in December 2024, the existing OSHA requirements, and the requirement of 10% spending with Small, Women, and Minority-Owned Business Enterprises.
What would change
The memo’s revision table lists eight changes. The ones with the most reach:
Who qualifies. The job threshold drops from 50 to 25. Staff writes that this would “enable consideration of more quality projects” with significant capital investment in target industries.
How wages are measured. The wage benchmark would come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages instead of the five-year American Community Survey. Wages would keep rising 3% a year, which the memo says gives companies “planning certainty.”
How big the break can be. The table says the base abatement or rebate percentage would rise “by 5%,” with a maximum abatement of 95%. Ojo: the memo does not say whether that means five percentage points or 5% of the current rate, and it does not print the current base.
Where. A 10% location bonus would extend to “designated federal Opportunity Zones 2.0,” alongside the SA Tomorrow Regional Centers that already qualify. A separate 10% bonus for target-industry projects continues.
Transit corridors. Citing VIA’s Green and Silver lines, the guidelines would offer an abatement or rebate for investment along designated Transit-Oriented Development corridors, aligned with the city’s TOD Policy Framework, with extra credit for small-business support.
Research jobs. Projects that anchor research and development would get “more attractive job grant terms” and a new R&D rebate program. The memo names the target industries as bioscience, aerospace, defense, transportation, IT, energy and advanced manufacturing.
The workforce money moves
This is the change residents may feel most directly, and the one that is hardest to measure from the memo.
Today, a company getting a break must put 10% of the value of its abatement or rebate into wraparound services, meaning transportation, childcare or training, for its own employees.
The proposal replaces that with 5% of the taxes collected from the project, paid into a City economic mobility fund for services that help people “access, retain, or advance in quality employment.” The memo’s stated goal is to tie the abatement “more directly to measurable economic mobility outcomes for residents citywide, not just its own employees.”
Analysis: the two numbers are percentages of different things. One is a share of the break the company receives; the other is a share of the taxes the project still pays. Whether the new formula moves more money or less depends on the size of each deal, and the memo gives no example project, no estimate of what the fund would collect, and no description of who would run it.
Where it came from
Staff says it benchmarked the incentive policies of peer cities named in the city’s Economic Development Strategic Framework, analyzed the current Chapter 312 and 380 guidelines, and held roundtables with major employers, place-making partners and innovation groups. The memo also credits input from greater:SATX and “strategic partner insights.” The Council’s Economic and Workforce Development Committee was briefed on Sept. 22, 2026.
The guidelines travel with that framework. Item 6 on the same Oct. 15 agenda briefed Council on the updated Economic Development Strategic Framework, first accepted in October 2022 and rewritten with consultant TIP Strategies under a contract signed Feb. 26, 2026 (packet p. 6). Council is set to consider accepting it on the same day, Nov. 5 (p. 8).
What supporters and critics have said
The memo is the city staff’s case for the changes. Puro SA did not review the Oct. 15 meeting recording for this story, and the packet holds no written comments from Council members or the public. If anyone puts a position on the record before Nov. 5, we will report it.
How to weigh in
Public comment on Council agenda items is taken through SASpeakUp.com: choose the meeting and sign up to speak or send a written comment. On the Oct. 15 agenda, speaker registration closed 15 minutes before the meeting began, and the City Clerk’s office listed (210) 207-7253 for questions. The Nov. 5 agenda has not been posted yet; check it for that day’s instructions.
Jargon Jail
- Tax abatement (Chapter 312): the agreement the memo describes for reducing a company’s taxes in exchange for jobs and investment.
- Chapter 380 grant or rebate: the memo’s term for the city paying back taxes or making a grant for an economic project.
- Regional Centers: what the memo calls the City’s existing “SA Tomorrow Regional Centers,” which already get the 10% location bonus.
- Wraparound services: transportation, childcare or training, the memo’s examples.
Ni modo: the rules expire either way on Dec. 31. The question for Nov. 5 is which rules replace them.
Ahí está. Read the agenda. — Val