SAN ANTONIO – With a nearly $158 million budget shortfall to close over the next two years, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones has pointed to some unexpected places to cut deep.
The city has not publicly revealed a full list of specific budget cuts being considered, but some possibilities have come up during budget discussions or previous plans, including trims to city funding for two nonprofits, the San Antonio Botanical Garden and the San Antonio Book Festival.
However, the mayor has suggested going further and scrapping their funding, though her reasons for each are different.
She has also appeared to advocate for even steeper charges to Fiesta event organizers than the city has already proposed.
Botanical Garden
City staff have been planning since at least last year to trim a $1.2 million contribution to the San Antonio Botanical Garden down to $1 million in the upcoming, FY 2027 budget.
In a June 18 budget discussion, though, Jones said she wanted to take the Botanical Garden’s funding “to zero,” saying it has a ticket fee and a fundraiser, “Bubbles and Blooms” and would “be okay.”
Her singling out of the nonprofit seemed to be more about using it as an example of where to draw the line for funding.
“I want to see a full list of these things, Erik, that if you charge a ticket fee, they can figure it out,” she told City Manager Erik Walsh.
“If we’re talking about cutting nutrition centers, we’re not going to fund the botanical gardens.”
San Antonio Botanical Garden President and CEO Katherine Trumble told KSAT the mayor’s comments were “very unexpected.”
Admissions revenue covers about 20% of its operational budget, she said, while the city money covers about 7%. However, she said a portion of the city money also funds capital expenses.
Of the garden’s 39 acres, she said, 38 are city-owned acres and facilities.
While Trumble said the Botanical Garden was aware and prepared for the planned $200,000 reduction in funding, taking it down to “zero” as the mayor wants would force it to focus on maintaining the city’s buildings and grounds.
“And so that could affect the growth potential in our school tours, she said. “It could affect growth potential and our access programs.”
Book Festival
Similarly, the city’s $150,000 general fund contribution to San Antonio Book Festival had already been marked for a $50,000 cut as part of last year’s budget process.
Unlike the San Antonio Botanical Garden, the event is free, but Jones questioned why the city was bankrolling it and not private philanthropy.
“I’m not saying we don’t need a book festival. I was just there this last time and it was great. But these are not things that the public needs to be paying for,” Jones said. “Military veterans affairs, greater chamber...can you pick that up?”
The city’s FY 2026 budget shows the book festival also receives another $98,000 in arts and tourism-related dollars from another part of the city budget.
Executive Director Lisa Ayres says the festival has other sources of funding in its $1.2 million budget, but “every dollar counts.”
The group wants to grow its event, she said, and if it isn’t able to replace the city’s $150,000, that could mean reducing the number of authors they bring in or how many school visits they pay for.
Even if it were able to fill the hole in the short-term, she said, “I think that it would be hard to sustain that for a while. The city investment is very important to what we do.”
KSAT is also a media partner for San Antonio Book Festival.
Fiesta cost-sharing
City staff have also suggested “additional cost recovery” for Fiesta events — essentially having event organizers kick in more for the city’s support of parades and other events during Fiesta.
City staff have previously said the city spends $3 million more on Fiesta than it receives.
Walsh told council members they were aiming to recoup 50% of the expenses, bringing in another $700,00 each year.
“But that will ultimately have an impact on some of the cost of those events, I suspect,” he said.
Jones seemed to suggest the city could push it further, though, saying the $700,000 was just one event.
“Again, if you charge a ticket fee, we should not be subsidizing your things,” Jones said in the June 18 briefing. “And you can figure out how to right-cost that.”
The Rey Feo Consejo Educational Foundation instituted a $5 gate fee for the traditionally-free Fiesta de los Reyes at Market Square this year because of its own security costs.
Elaine De Los Santos, the group’s interim executive director, told KSAT on Monday they pay Centro San Antonio for cleanup services during and after their event, but they don’t pay the city for on-duty San Antonio Police officers doing crowd control.
Asked how that might affect the gate fee if they had to chip in for policing costs, De Los Santos said her group would have to talk with the city first.
What to cut?
Neither Ayres nor Trumble want to lose the amount of funding Jones is eyeing. However, they didn’t want to suggest where the money might come from instead, either.
“I couldn’t speak to that,” Trumble told KSAT, while Ayres said “I would never point another nonprofit out.”
Ultimately, it will be the mayor and council’s decision. City staff are scheduled to deliver a draft budget, complete with suggested cuts, for them to begin considering on Aug. 13.
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