It all depends on how you frame it — UTSA says ballot language causes major shift in opinion on San Antonio charter changes

SAN ANTONIO – A pair of recent polls show that San Antonio voters are both overwhelmingly against and generally in favor of eliminating caps on city manager pay and tenure in some form.

It all depends on how you ask the question.

The Center for Public Opinion Research (CPOR) at the University of Texas at San Antonio conducted a survey of likely voters. September And October about six proposed city charter changes In the vote on November 5. But voters’ views varied greatly depending on whether they used plain language or full ballot language when explaining the changes.

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

When CPOR conducted its September survey, it described Proposition C as follows: “Another proposed change to the city charter that would remove the cap on city manager salary as well as the number of years a person can serve as city manager.”

Based on this statement it is almost 69% opposed the change and less 17% was in his favour.

However, when the center changed the stage in its poll on October 15-20 and used the same wording without specifying the current limit values ​​​​in the ballot paper, the support rose to almost 100. 43%and only 27% They objected.

CITY OF SAN ANTONIO – PROPOSAL C: CITY MANAGER TERM AND COMPENSATION “Shall the City of San Antonio Charter be amended to authorize the City Council to determine all terms of the City Manager’s employment, including tenure and compensation?”

November 5 voting language

The change in language brought UTSA’s survey more in line with the results of a survey conducted for the pro-charter change PAC, Renew SA. Results of the survey by Baselice & Associates found that 45% of likely voters support Proposition C, while 31% oppose it.

“Yes, I definitely think there’s a huge disconnect between their understanding of the ballot language and their actual support for removing capital letters. “You know, I think it’s pretty clear from the data,” CPOR Director Bryan Gervais told reporters. Thursday briefing According to survey results.

The changes are also going largely unnoticed in the long Nov. 5 voting session, with dozens of federal, state, judicial and county races ahead.

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UTSA’s September poll found that nearly 81% of voters had not even heard of the proposed changes. In the October survey, that number dropped to just under 72%.

“So we can say that this is a problem, A – people are going into the voting booth completely unaware of these things. And it’s also a problem that not only do they go in without realizing it, but they don’t understand what they’re reading and what it means,” Gervais said.

‘MANIPULATIVE’

In 2018, 59 percent of voters, led by the fire union, agreed to implement those limits, limiting the position to a salary 10 times that of 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 starting wage of $18 per hour, and he will be required to leave the city’s top administrative post by March 2027. He receives an additional $16,200 from various incentives and allowances, but does not receive this salary. He was entitled to receive a bonus.

Between renew SA The business community rallied behind Prop C, with participation from the PAC and the San Antonio Business Coalition. Supporters say this makes the city less competitive in attracting top talent.

“We’re educating people on, one, what a ballot measure is, two, what ballot language is, but we’re also educating people on the importance of those,” Renew SA Campaign Director Kelton Morgan said.

However, Renew SA’s website does not mention that voters approved the restrictions in the first place.

Asked whether it befits the campaign for voters not to make that connection, Morgan said, “It befits the campaign to campaign about what voters will vote for.”

The 2018 constituent election was another front in a years-long contract war between the city and the union, both of which were under different leadership at the time. Again San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association He opposed the attempt to reverse the caps they helped install.

SAPFFA President Joe Jones said the union’s strategy relied “largely” on reminding voters that they had overstepped their bounds in the first place. He called the ballot language “manipulative.”

“Frankly, they don’t want to talk about salary caps and term limits because people are in favor of salary caps and term limits. We know this because that question was asked and answered six years ago,” Jones said.

CHANGES OF OPINION

Proposition C wasn’t the only charter change that saw a shift in opinion between September’s plain language poll and October’s official ballot language.

Proposition B, which would clean up outdated language but makes no significant changes, saw a dramatic drop in support, with almost 55% saying they were unsure whether they supported it. Gervais said pollsters believe many respondents decided to just say they weren’t sure, rather than read lengthy voting language listing dozens of sections of the contract.

Prop E, which would increase the salaries of council members and the mayor from $45,722 and $61,725, nearly doubled support from 27% to 52%.

Statements in both the September and October surveys list the proposed new salary levels as $70,200 and $87,800. But while descriptive language in September described it as an “increase,” ballot language says the change would “set and limit” salaries. The ballot measure also states that future raises will depend on the area’s average income.

“We believe voters think this does not represent an increase over what they are currently getting, it means it will be reduced or limited to that,” Gervais said.

The Ethics Review Board, proposals A, D and F, which deal with city employees’ political activities and extending council terms from two to four years, were all surveyed in relatively similar fashion between September and October.

All six amendments were voted in a similar manner between UTSA’s October poll and Renew SA’s poll, with the exact same voting language also being used.

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

Below are the full side-by-side results from both the UTSA CPOR surveys and Renew SAs. Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number.