{"id":383369,"date":"2026-07-23T03:41:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T03:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/383369\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T03:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T03:41:08","slug":"san-antonio-botanical-garden-ceo-says-proposed-city-funding-cuts-could-affect-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/383369\/","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio Botanical Garden CEO says proposed city funding cuts could affect mission"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">SAN ANTONIO \u2013 The San Antonio Botanical Garden is preparing for the possibility of reduced city funding as San Antonio leaders work to address a projected <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ksat.com\/news\/local\/2026\/07\/01\/ksat-qa-mayor-jones-talks-potential-city-budget-cuts-raising-property-taxes-amid-158m-budget-gap\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.ksat.com\/news\/local\/2026\/07\/01\/ksat-qa-mayor-jones-talks-potential-city-budget-cuts-raising-property-taxes-amid-158m-budget-gap\/\">$158 million budget deficit<\/a> over the next two years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones recently suggested the city reconsider funding for some nonprofits, including the Botanical Garden, arguing that organizations charging admission should not also receive city support.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">SABG Garden CEO Katherine Tremble said the nonprofit understands the city\u2019s financial challenges but hopes any reductions are reasonable. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">\u201cSo we understand that as a partner with the city, that some budget cuts are necessary,\u201d Tremble said. \u201cFor us, it\u2019s how do we come to an agreement on something that is reasonable so that we can continue to deliver on mission.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The 39-acre Botanical Garden welcomed 430,000 visitors in 2025 and is on track to serve a record 50,000 people through community accessibility programs this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The nonprofit operates on a $14 million annual budget, including a $1.2 million investment from the city. Tremble said admission fees cover only about 20% of operating costs. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">\u201cOne of the things that\u2019s important to understand is that it takes a lot of manpower to maintain these 39 acres,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">If city funding were eliminated entirely, Tremble said the garden\u2019s mission would be affected. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">\u201cThat would absolutely affect our ability to deliver on mission,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">When asked whether staff reductions would become necessary, Tremble said, \u201cThat would be a hard reality that we would have to navigate at that point.\u201d The Botanical Garden employs 179 people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Despite the uncertainty, Tremble said she remains optimistic and confident the garden will continue serving the community. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">\u201cI try to focus on the positive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Read also:<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by KSAT &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 The San Antonio Botanical Garden is preparing for the possibility of reduced city funding as&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2112,82,8486,84,83],"class_list":["post-383369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-gina-ortiz-jones","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-botanical-garden","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}