Bexar County, Texas

The County of Bexar contracted with TischlerBise for a multi-phase project to assist the County with service delivery issues in the unincorporated County. Census data indicated that unincorporated areas of the County had seen 90 percent growth from 2000 to 2010 due to both natural growth and limited annexations by the City of San Antonio, and these areas were projected to continue to grow, adding 100,000 in population over the next few years. Over the past decade, the County has enjoyed substantial growth and large property tax increases. However, the recent economic downturn caused property taxes (the County’s main growth-related revenue source) to remain flat. As a result, reductions to the General Fund were still needed, while the County faced core service delivery needs and increased demands for service, especially from unincorporated areas.

TischlerBise compared the legislative authority of Bexar County to urban counties in other states; determined and projected population and other socioeconomic characteristics of the unincorporated area; evaluated the fiscal impacts of providing services to both incorporated and unincorporated areas; examined the possibility of annexation; and used GIS to create projections and make recommendations for service delivery options to the incorporated and unincorporated areas of the County. A main component of the assignment involved an extensive fiscal impact analysis of the unincorporated areas of the County, and a fiscal impact model designed specifically for that purpose. The model reflected both the City of San Antonio’s level of service to evaluate the fiscal impact of annexation and a prototypical jurisdiction in the County based on an analysis of smaller proxy jurisdictions in the County to evaluate the fiscal impact of incorporation. The project culminated with a Service Delivery and Fiscal Sustainability

Recommendations report in which TischlerBise developed a matrix to evaluate areas of the unincorporated County according to a wide-range of criteria including those areas suitable for annexation. A series of recommendations were made based on all phases of the project with emphasis on locations suitable for annexation and incorporation. TischlerBise’s recommendations mirror those from the City of San Antonio for potential annexation.