Short answer: Austin and San Antonio, 80 miles apart in the same state, land on opposite sides of both questions. Austin pays to repair your sidewalk and stops your sewer-lateral duty at the property line. San Antonio bills the owner for the sidewalk (with a rebate) and makes you responsible for the lateral past the property line, all the way to the main. It is the clearest proof that "who pays" is a local political choice, not a law of Texas.
Sidewalk repair
| City | Who pays | The rule |
|---|---|---|
| Austin | The city | The owner-maintenance rule was removed from the City Code in 1999; Transportation and Public Works now maintains sidewalks. |
| San Antonio | The owner | The abutting owner pays, softened by a rebate that covers roughly 50-70% depending on the neighborhood. |
Sewer lateral
| City | Where your duty ends |
|---|---|
| Austin | Owner duty is capped at the property line; the city owns the segment under the street. |
| San Antonio | Owner is responsible past the property line, all the way to the SAWS main under the street. |
Why this matters if you are moving between them
Move from Austin to San Antonio and the same broken pipe under the street flips from the city's problem to a five-figure bill that is yours. No disclosure form flags it, because the rule lives in a municipal code and a utility policy, not in the sale paperwork. The lesson generalizes: the answer to "who pays" is set street by street, city by city, and the only safe assumption is to check your own address before you buy or before you ignore a problem.
See each city's full verified rule with the code and policy cited: Austin and San Antonio. Look up any other city at the city lookup, or read the national picture in the data study.