SAN ANTONIO – As it faces a huge budget deficit the City of San Antonio is looking at dozens of programs to cut, including travel by city employees, city council members, and the mayor.

The News 4 I-Team Waste Watch uncovered tens of thousands of dollars in travel expenses by the mayor, her staff, and security detail.

City travel records show in her first year in office Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones traveled to Taiwan, California, Mexico City, and other destinations with members of her staff and security detail at a cost to taxpayers of $256,323.

“I don’t think it’s right. I don’t think it’s right for her to do that,” said taxpayer Hector Rocha.

“It’s $256,000 too much. You know when you’re complaining about or over the budget,” added taxpayer Lorenzo Ortiz.

The trips taken by the mayor are the type that have become common for elected officials: conferences, trade missions, and visits to sister cities.

But the expenses stand out because of the budget crunch the city is facing and because the mayor often takes along staff members and her security detail.

“People are having a hard time maintaining their living status, and that’s very excessive,” said taxpayer Dee Benford.

This past March, Jones was accompanied by her executive assistant, chief of staff, director of communications and two police officers on a trade mission to Taiwan, at a cost of $35 thousand.

That doesn’t include the security detail because the city did not want to release their itemized expenses for security reasons.

Political Scientist Jon Taylor at UTSA says it’s debatable whether taxpayers get a good return on investment from these economic development trips.

“I’m kind of skeptical that somehow one trip to Taipei or somewhere else is all of a sudden going to shower San Antonio with millions upon millions of investment,” Taylor said.

Along with the conferences the trips include perks.

The itinerary for the Taiwan trip offers a tour of the National Concert Hall and the Chiang Kai-shek memorial, a highspeed train ride, dinner at an indigenous theme restaurant and a gondola ride.

A Conference of Mayors that Jones went to in June in Long Beach, California offered attendees a live music event at an aquarium, a tour of the Queen Mary, and admission to a Snoop Dogg concert at the new amphitheater.

Initially, the mayor said she would talk to us about her travel expenses. But minutes before that interview, when we were on the way to City Hall, her staff called to cancel, saying they would just be providing a written statement.

We briefly caught up with her the next day as she walked to a budget meeting flanked by her security detail.

“Are these trips necessary and do you have to bring staff members along with you when you go?” asked the News 4 I-Team’s Jaie Avila.

“The mayor of the sixth largest city in the country is not going to travel alone in representing the city, you know that,” the mayor responded.

She ducked into the budget session before we could ask her about a $2,721 seat upgrade on her expense report for the Taiwan trip, and a $453 seat upgrade for her former chief of staff.

As for the mayor’s security detail, city records show you spent $193,827 in travel expenses and overtime for them to accompany the mayor.

Mayor Jones has had threats made against her in San Antonio but it’s not clear if she faces the same security issues while traveling abroad.

“With all due respect to the mayor, do they really know who she is outside of San Antonio and outside of Texas? The answer is probably not,” said Taylor.

Taxpayers we spoke to question the mayor’s need to travel internationally.

One referenced the case of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who was on an overseas trip during catastrophic fires in her city.

“Like the mayor from California that was in Africa, I believe, when they were having the fires, there’s no need for that,” said taxpayer Hector Rocha.

In its proposed budget the city is calling for a 25 percent reduction in travel expenses for all employees except public safety. The cut would include the mayor and city council.