Mayor Jones Proposes Two Amendments to the 2027 Bond, Both Aimed at the $35 Million in Downtown Infrastructure

Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones proposed two amendments to the 2027 Bond Program during Thursday's City Council A-Session, both addressing the $35 million in proposed downtown infrastructure investments, according to the mayor's statement published by the City of San Antonio on Oct. 29. The amendments came as council took up the bond program resolution — the package city staff sized at $442 million, which City Manager Erik Walsh has said is what the city can afford without raising property taxes.

The $35 million at issue is the bond's downtown piece: infrastructure improvements around Hemisfair that, under Walsh's earlier briefing, must be completed for a new San Antonio Spurs arena to proceed, according to San Antonio Current's analysis of the bond. The arena is the centerpiece of Project Marvel, the proposed downtown sports and entertainment district. The $35 million figure has already shrunk once during the bond's development — earlier estimates for the Hemisfair improvements ran as high as $220 million before items including an $85 million Alamodome parking garage were dropped, the Current reported.

What happens to the mayor's amendments now runs through the bond's remaining calendar: council is shaping the final program ahead of a public vote expected in May or November 2027. The shape of the downtown allocation matters beyond City Hall — under the Spurs' non-binding term sheet, the city's share of arena funding is tied to voters approving a bond program, so how the $35 million is written into the final package is one of the decisions that determines what voters are actually being asked to approve.