Before becoming Centro CEO, Trish DeBerry ran a failed bid to become Bexar County judge. Credit: Facebook / Trish DeBerry for Bexar County Judge

Centro San Antonio CEO Trish DeBerry during a Monday talk radio appearance called Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones “toxic” and compared her demands that San Antonio companies step up their fundraising to the “Gestapo.”

DeBerry’s jabs during a WOAI-AM radio interview related to Jones’ call to hold a citywide vote on public funding for the Spurs’s proposed downtown arena. Although the project received county ballot approval in November, it’s never gone before San Antonio voters.

“I got blown up on text regarding the memo and took a look at it, and I just took this big heavy sigh,” said DeBerry, whose organization promotes downtown development. “Not only did we already vote on it, but I just thought it was unnecessary, counterproductive, toxic, if you will.”

Last Friday, Jones sent a memo to City Council, City Manager Erik Walsh and City Attorney Andy Segovia, calling for the city’s $489 million contribution toward a new NBA arena at Hemisfair to be added to the November ballot. The arena is considered a centerpiece of Project Marvel, a proposed $4 billion sports-and-entertainment district intended to reshape much of downtown.

Last November, Bexar County, in a 52%-48% vote, narrowly approved raising the county’s hotel occupancy tax to help cover the county’s $311 million contribution to the Spurs arena. Although the city’s $489 million contribution was contingent on that ballot proposal, San Antonio voters have never publicly approved the city’s share.

While Jones has been critical of how the process came about, DeBerry attributed the proposal to a strong dislike for the Spurs.

“The Spurs are a part of who we are in San Antonio,” DeBerry said. “Continuing to poke them in the eye on a consistent basis is not healthy for anyone.”

DeBerry also delved into pro-Project Marvel talking points, including promoting the claim that the arena project, and a separate minor league baseball stadium project, will lead to “major corporate relocations” to San Antonio.

“Not to mention what it’s going to mean for the residents of this city,” DeBerry continued. “If this project moves forward, and you generate the kind of hotel and sales taxes, all of it. Where does that money go? Into the city’s general fund. And guess what it funds? Streets, sidewalks and drainage all over this city. This is not a difficult concept.”

The Spurs arena is being funded in part by county hotel occupancy taxes along with sales tax revenue collected in and around Hemisfair, meaning much of those tax revenues won’t go into the city’s general fund, as DeBerry argued. Rather, the money will go to paying off the city and county bonds issued to finance the proposed $1.3 billion arena.

DeBerry also took aim at Jones’ attempt to ask local philanthropists to help pay for city-subsidized nonprofits in an effort to make a dent in the city’s looming $158 million budget deficit.

“We have a lot of really philanthropic corporations in this town that really give a lot of money — the Spurs being one of them,” DeBerry said. “We have some really good humans in this city and county. So, these demands that are being put forth like the Gestapo, or whatever, need to stop.”

City Council has until Aug. 17 to decide whether to add the city’s $489 million contribution to the arena project onto the November ballot.

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Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...