San Diego officials prepare for deepest budget cuts since Great Recession
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Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios
After months of debate, City Council is set to approve San Diego's budget on Tuesday.
Why it matters: Officials have been trying to solve a projected $258 million deficit, after voters rejected a sales tax increase in November, forcing what would be the biggest spending reductions since the Great Recession.
Catch up quick: The city has for years faced a structural deficit, which is a fundamental imbalance between the revenue it's positioned to collect each year and its ongoing spending commitments.
- Officials had been able to delay difficult choices through one-time fixes and stop-gap measures, but those options have largely run their course.
Follow the money: The cuts in the latest budget won't be nearly as deep as they would have been, thanks to the council's 6-3 vote Monday to impose a monthly $43.60 fee for trash collection, boosting city coffers.
- That fee is possible after a 2022 voter-approved measure repealing a century-old law that had prohibited San Diego from charging most single-family homes a fee for trash collection, but the monthly cost far exceeds an estimate that appeared on the ballot.
- The city also increased parking rates and other fees to boost revenue.
How it works: The council can make changes to Mayor Todd Gloria's budget proposal for the fiscal year that starts in July before a final vote on Tuesday.
- But Gloria can veto those changes, and the council needs a supermajority vote to override his veto.
Between the lines: Gloria has proposed slashing library and recreation center hours across the city.
- Council member Sean Elo-Rivera has called the budget cuts "irresponsible and cruel."
Zoom in: Council members representing the lowest-income districts in the city have advocated targeting library and rec center cuts in higher-income areas that are less reliant on them.
Reality check: City budget analysts have laid out ways the council could reverse some $6 million in Gloria's proposed cuts, but that is compared to more than $30 million that council members have said they want to undo.