SAN ANTONIO – News 4 San Antonio continued its weekly conversation with Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones on Monday, with much of the discussion focused on San Antonio’s $158 million budget deficit and whether residents could ultimately see an increase in property taxes.

Jones has said raising property taxes would be a last resort and argued that the city needs to take a hard look at its spending priorities before asking taxpayers for more money.

NEWS 4: You’ve talked about potentially raising property taxes, but as a last resort. Do you think things can get done without raising those taxes?

MAYOR GINA ORTIZ JONES: “Well, it is hard to see, but I think we have to try everything possible, which is why that is what I have continued to do. I think it’s really important that when we are doing something as extreme as raising property taxes, which we haven’t done in 30 years, that we go through all the intellectual exercises. Where do we have additional money?”

Jones said her priorities are public safety, infrastructure and critical public health programs, particularly as the city faces the effects of federal cuts.

She also questioned city funding for programs and organizations she considers lower priorities.

“These things add up: a million dollars to the botanical garden, $700,000 for Fiesta. All these things add up,” Jones said.

NEWS 4: Back in July, you called on local businesses and philanthropists to step up and help pay for some community programs. So far, there have been no commitments. Do you think that’s going to change?

JONES: “Well, I’m really thankful that we, you know, as a result of the letter that I sent on July 24th, we’ve had a conversation that we haven’t had previously. But these are real cuts that we are looking at in the community.”

Jones said conversations with corporations, philanthropists and foundations are continuing despite no financial commitments so far.

“I think what may happen actually is as we get closer to when we finalize the budget, and we see the things that are frankly left out, I would hope then that we could revisit the conversation about where corporations, philanthropies and foundations can help pay for some of these programs that are great, but we just don’t have the money in the general fund right now.”

NEWS 4: Are any of those conversations promising? Are businesses and philanthropists on the fence, or are they saying times are tough and they can’t do it?

JONES: “Well, I think times are tough for a lot of folks, and that’s why I wanted to, frankly, give folks as much time as possible to really look at what things were being considered here as they look at their own kind of giving, but also, no kidding, the loss to the community if some of these things don’t go funded.”

Jones said the size of the deficit means city leaders need to decide which programs are important enough to justify asking residents to pay more.

“We’ve got to really ask the tough questions about what is worth raising people’s property taxes, and for me, it’s not the San Antonio Botanical Garden, it’s not the San Antonio Book Festival; those kinds of things.”

NEWS 4: How much of this deficit do you think is due to rising costs versus decisions the city has made about spending?

JONES: “There are some things that are out of our control right now, but there are also things that are happening at the federal level that are really causing us here to locally look at the programs that we need to protect.”

Jones pointed to a $700,000 maternal mortality pilot program as an example, comparing its cost with the city’s $700,000 Fiesta subsidy.

“If, for me, it’s between Fiesta and healthy moms, you know what I’m going to be picking — healthy moms,” Jones said. “At the local level, we have to help ourselves, and for me, that means focusing on things that keep our communities safe and healthy.”

NEWS 4: What’s more likely to happen as we move forward with the budget process?

JONES: “We’re having discussions with my colleagues about, you know, we last week looked at a couple of options, right? What if we did no property tax increase? That was pretty dire. You’d have to go find another $75 million in cuts.”

Jones said another option presented to council members would involve an 8.7% property tax increase in one year.

“That’s a lot. That’s a lot, especially when you also look at the additional fees that the city has proposed on top of — let’s not forget SAWS, CPS. Of course, the ISDs are having their own bond elections, so everything’s increasing.”

Jones again argued that the city should examine tax increment reinvestment zones and whether some of that property tax revenue should return to the city’s general fund.

“We’ve got real infrastructure in the community that I think is worthy of considering and worthy of investing before we look at some of those pet projects.”

NEWS 4: A lot of difficult decisions have to be made.

JONES: “Some of them are not that difficult. I’ll be honest with you. Fund what the community needs right now, not these pet projects.”