As they prepare for the fiscal year that begins in July, San Diego city leaders are pledging to only make cuts instead of asking residents to pay higher fees.
The reason for that is twofold: First, the San Diego City Council had to go through a lot to approve new revenue sources last year, and for the money to come up short after taking such a beating from the public was demoralizing. Second, at least one councilmember said the mayor failed to execute the Council’s budget direction.
Last year’s attempt to balance the city budget with new money from Balboa Park parking fees resulted in an almost $9 million shortfall, according to the latest estimates. Other revenue sources like hotel taxes are coming in lower than expected, and some city departments overspent on overtime and salaries.
As a result, a mid-year budget report published by the city’s department of finance last month shows the city is on track to spend $16.8 million more than it is on track to collect. City leaders are legally obligated to find a way to end the current fiscal year without a deficit. At the same time, they will have to prepare a balanced budget for the coming year.
A spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office said on Friday that the city is projecting a $120 million deficit for next year.
“There is no revenue that is going to come online between now and the end of this fiscal year that’s going to give us a parachute from the very hard conversations and decisions that are going to need to take place,” said Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera in an interview with Voice of San Diego.
City leaders are already looking ahead, though.
Council President Joe LaCava admitted there’s no appetite to look for new revenue sources moving forward.
“The public is exhausted by either new revenue or increasing fees,” LaCava said. “I think the elected officials here are exhausted by that process.”
LaCava said the public should expect proposed cuts to library hours and recreation center hours. That would also include reductions in the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, and the city’s continued hiring freeze on non-essential positions.
Councilmember Henry Foster wants to revive discussions on cutting middle and upper manager positions. These include program managers, deputy directors, assistant directors, and program coordinators across different departments.
Foster told Voice that while they will focus on cuts, he wants that to be done equitably. He disagreed that there isn’t an appetite for finding new revenue.
“From my observation it’s really more so to do with the lack of confidence in the mayor’s ability to execute,” Foster said.
Councilmember Foster, who also heads the budget committee, said he wants the mayor to respect Council’s decisions on the budget.
During last year’s the budget negotiations, the mayor proposed certain cuts, but the Council rejected those. They decided to rely on optimistic projections for new revenue to keep libraries and recreation centers open.
Foster said in the last budget process, for example, the Council was specific about cutting two deputy chief operating officers. Mayor Todd Gloria decided not to cut those positions.
Councilmember Elo-Rivera said it’s important for the mayor’s proposed budget to show he’s heard the feedback of the Council and the public.
Elo-Rivera said last year’s budget was “very disconnected” from what the Council wanted. He said the mayor’s proposed budget included “across-the-board cuts” that the council had repeatedly said would be unacceptable.
“Just like any relationship, it’s really important for all parties involved to feel like they’re being heard, in order to make sure that relationship is as strong as possible,” said Elo-Rivera.
Last year, a coalition of councilmembers including Foster and Elo-Rivera blasted the mayor for striking down the Council’s “balanced and equitable” budget.
Councilmember Kent Lee said they will have to wait to see what the mayor’s proposed budget looks like, and that will determine how the Council will respond.
LaCava told Voice they’ll have a “better handle” on revenue projections related to Balboa Park and other parking fees for the next fiscal year.
“What we did last year is like – let’s do this – let’s make an educated guess about what kind of revenue it is. And across the board, it turned out to be much less, but we’re now several months in, we’re that much smarter,” he said.
Other councilmembers, like Vivian Moreno saw the writing on the wall from the start. She said she voted no on last year’s budget because of the revenue predictions that “didn’t come to fruition,” she said in an interview with Voice.
“We were stipulating that a lot of money was going to come in and as we saw, it didn’t,” she said.
Still, some Councilmembers like Elo-Rivera don’t want to close the door on potential revenue sources. He wants to look at taxing larger corporations and companies.
“In the past, budgets were balanced on the backs of communities that had the least. That makes it even more important in my mind to have those conversations about the wealthiest corporations paying their fair share,” he said.
On April 15, Mayor Gloria will publish his proposed fiscal year budget for 2027. He’ll present the budget to the full City Council on April 20.
In a statement to Voice, he said they are “far from” having a budget proposal. He said he has completed an initial round of reviews with every city department to identify potential reductions while prioritizing services.
“Last year, the City Council and I made real progress reducing the structural deficit through a combination of targeted cuts and responsible revenue steps,” he said. “That work helped stabilize our finances, but it also means more painful decisions are ahead. The choices are between bad and worse and will impact even core services like libraries and parks. I’m encouraged by the serious, good-faith collaboration I’ve had with Councilmembers who understand they, too, will have hard choices to make to keep the City on solid financial footing.”
A spokesperson for Council President LaCava said there will be two special City Council meetings on Feb. 23 and March 10 starting at 6 p.m. for the public on the budget.
Still, some Councilmembers like Elo-Rivera don’t want to close the door on potential revenue sources. He wants to look at taxing larger corporations and companies.
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Ego-Rivera really doesn’t know what he wants because he is totally incompetent and out of touch with reality.
No, you should take from the productive companies and give to the people on their couches instead. All you people know how to do is give out monetary handouts. YOU don’t know how to hand out knowledge because you have none.
Politicians always default to the scare tactics of reducing library and parks and rec hours. But the real fat never gets talked about. There’s never been a public deep dive into individual department budgets. For instance, in my Instagram feed I’ve been seeing “sponsored” posts on the City page. That means the city is paying Meta to move the city’s posts to the top of social media feeds to market, influence, brainwash, whatever you want to call it. This clearly is a misuse of tax dollars. This is on top of the many departments already having a social media manager…libraries included. Also, ever notice how many city employees have multiple jackets, pools, hats, etc embroidered with the city logo? Swag is nice but an uneeded expense in this budget crisis. This is easy low hanging fruit that is never addressed. Some people will say these type items won’t close the budget gap. But unless discretionary spending isn’t explored and eliminated, layoffs are the only answer.
Why is the city leadership so afraid of reducing staff? You should look at home much the city of san diego total personnel count has exploded over the last 10 years, as well as pension payments.. While the population has not grown. Easy to see how poorly the city is operated.
labor unions
Common sense should dictate that you need to encourage companies to grow or to come here and hire more people rather than continue to chase them away with higher taxes. It’s easy for politicians to say “tax the corporations” but those corporations have been leaving CA for decades. If we had more middle income jobs that don’t require a degree, we would all do better and won’t need to keep raising min. wage which drives up costs, including city budgets.
How about doing things more efficiently? Cut the fat from the top and save the workers that actually do things for the citizens.
The Council’s first swipe is always at resident services – libraries and recreation centers – basically punishing the people for not approving the 1 cent sales tax increase. The residents are not to blame for the Council’s wasteful spending on 101 Ash Street and other boondoggles like the funds spent trying to force the purchase of the homeless warehouse at Kettner & Vine.
Time for the Council to rein in spending on ballooning middle management. Employee and pension costs are a huge part of the City’s budget! It’s past time for City Hall to absorb some of the budget cuts and not just inflict the pain on the residents.
The number of San Diego’s city employees has increased at a far greater rate than San Diego’s population (+35% vs +6% since 2012), despite increased computerization to automate many tasks.
As an example, in the last few years DSD increased from 500 to 700 employees (+40%), which might have been fiscally responsible when the city processed 9,693 building permits, but now permits are declining – to approximately 7,500 in 2025 – so it’s time to eliminate these extra positions given the 23% reduction in permits.
The structural budget deficit cannot be resolved if the City doesn’t tighten its own belt and rein in its spending. The City’s attempts at generating revenue are getting to the point of squeezing blood from a stone. The unions are strong and employee reductions should never be made without careful consideration, but if there isn’t money available to pay the employees, that is today’s reality. Library and rec center employees shouldn’t be the only people considered for layoffs and cutbacks, nor should they always be the first. The City Council and Mayor should be looking much closer to home for cost saving.
Elo-Rivera said “Just like any relationship, it’s really important for all parties involved to feel like they’re being heard, in order to make sure that relationship is as strong as possible.” But he–and the rest of the City Council–fail to recognize that each of them and the Mayor are in the same predicament with respect to their constituents: WE don’t feel like WE’RE being heard, and you have fractured that relationship. We no longer have faith in you representing our interests.
The city is so proud of its fixed pothole map. Can you imagine a ship captain proud of all the corks in the hull?
In addition, maintaining the streets is a basic and expected service that should just be happening without much discussion. It’s part of running any city. Todd Glory-Hole celebrates every pothole repair as if he’s done something extraordinary and it’s pathetic.