If you’re tuning into city budget conversations, you’ve likely heard about a spike in middle managers that’s contributed to the city’s budget crisis.
What’s been less clear is the roles those new managers have taken on, why their ranks have grown so much and why they became such a big pariah in city budget talks.
Our Mariana Martínez Barba dug in and found that middle managers are non-union employees, making them more flexible to address new tasks and functions. Many of those positions were tied to new city programs, required by new state and federal mandates or were the result of settlement agreements or grants.
New middle manager positions also served as a workaround to Proposition B, a 2012 ballot measure that froze many City Hall wages for years.
Then there’s the fact that the city’s budget wasn’t looking so tight around the time the ranks of middle managers started growing.
Speaking of middle managers: Councilmembers want to cut more positions.
In a memo sent to the city’s Independent Budget Analyst, Budget Committee Chair Henry Foster along with councilmembers Kent Lee, Vivian Moreno and Sean Elo-Rivera asked the office to identify $3 million in cuts in “non-frontline” departments.
They also said they want the positions of chief operating officer and film program manager back.
Also related:
- The Union-Tribune reports that City Councilmembers Foster, Moreno, Elo-Rivera and Kent Lee are proposing a compromise budget that, among other changes, reverses cuts for libraries and recreation centers and reduces those to arts and culture. The new cash would come from additional middle manager cuts, reductions in homeless service offerings, canceling a controversial police department license-plate reader contract and implementing two-officer units.
- Earlier this week, CBS 8 reports that hundreds of San Diegans gathered at City Hall to rally against proposed arts and culture cuts.
South County Report: South Bay Latinos’ GOP-Curiosity Appears Over
After the 2024 election, our Jim Hinch reported on a rightward shift among South Bay’s Latino voters who shared their concerns about the economy, inflation and even lax border enforcement.
In this week’s South County Report, Hinch breaks down the results of a new poll of Latino voters that dove deep into California Latinos’ views. Though the poll doesn’t lay out specific results in San Diego County, Hinch notes that the numbers seem to reflect the backlash to President Donald Trump that he’s been hearing from voters.
Also in this week’s newsletter: One Chula Vista City Council candidate responds to Hinch’s recent reporting on an unflattering old image circulating of another candidate – and there’s now a Democrat in the Imperial Beach mayor’s race. Spoiler alert: He’s been on the game show Jeopardy.
Read the South County Report here.
Las Vegas Signals It’s Interested in Buying San Diego Water
Las Vegas has signaled interest in buying San Diego’s desalination water, the latest development in what will surely be a complex agreement permitting cities to trade water over state lines.
Last week, the board of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which provides water to the Las Vegas metropolitan area, officially signaled it wants to talk interstate water transfers by signing onto a memorandum of understanding proposed by the San Diego County Water Authority. San Diego is keen to sell off water it doesn’t need but is obligated to buy, like de-salted ocean water from a desalination plant in Carlsbad.
Such a deal could work like this: Las Vegas agrees to buy water from San Diego, maybe even at the high price of desalinated water – expensive because of all the energy it takes to make it. In exchange, Las Vegas gets to take a portion of San Diego’s Colorado River water.
Las Vegas, like San Diego, depends on water from the Colorado River which is dwindling due to overuse and climate change. The seven U.S. states that use it are currently deadlocked over how to agree to use less of it. Nevada gets the least amount of river water of any state.
San Diego still needs the federal government, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and various water movers in Arizona to agree to work on how to develop interstate water trades.
Don’t Miss Brews and News on June 11
Join our VOSD Podcasts hosts Scott Lewis, Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña, Bella Ross and Jakob McWhinney on June 11 at Soda Bar for an election recap and more during our Brews & News Live Podcast.
Get your tickets today.
In Other News
- Opinion: Shane Harris makes the case for why voters should vote no on Measure A. “At a time when San Diegans are already dealing with rising utility bills, new fees, and increasing everyday costs, asking voters to approve another tax without a clear spending plan only deepens concerns about trust and accountability,” he writes. Read his op-ed here.
- The county is seeking feedback on its $9.15 billion budget. (KPBS)
- Former Voice intern Jenna Ramiscal and fellow San Diego State student Polly Hill reveal that there are more than 1,300 AI-enabled cameras on SDSU’s campus. (The Daily Aztec)
- Harbor Island West Marina’s makeover is officially underway. (CBS 8)
- Nearby residents had a lot to say about two proposed pedestrian crossings over railroad tracks in Leucadia. (Union-Tribune)
- More parents want San Diego Unified to limit students’ screen time. (KPBS)
Lisa Halverstadt, Mariana Martínez Barba and MacKenzie Elmer wrote the Morning Report. Editing by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña.