City Hall Budget

by Scott Peters
July 2003

Recently the San Diego City Council completed its budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2003. A number of city departments suffered deep cuts because of the City's $30 million deficit. Still, I am pleased to report that we were able to create a budget that maintains police and fire safety and restores many of the core services in the Park and Recreation budget that the City Manager had slated for cuts. Public safety is always our number one priority. However, our parks, beaches, and recreation centers are central to our quality life in San Diego so I made it a priority to restore funding for park programs. I wanted to give you a brief rundown on the budget and alert you to potential cuts from the State that are still looming.

At the beginning of the budget process the City Manager presented a budget that included $30 million in service cuts. The Council had emphasized the need to maintain public safety so although the police and fire department budgets were reduced, no sworn officers were laid off. One of the hardest hit areas, though, was the Park and Recreation Department. The City Manager had proposed cutting seasonal crews that pick up trash and clean restrooms at area beaches during peak use, and proposed a significant decrease in recreation center hours and the closing of city pools from November to March.

These cuts would have been devastating for families in District 1. Our beaches are municipal treasures that serve as both quality of life enhancement and economic engine for the San Diego region. We took advantage of today's historically low interest rates to refinance City bonds to free up some new money. We used the money saved to restore funding for beach maintenance, pool hours and additional recreation center hours.

The City Manager originally proposed that all recreation centers be open 40 hours per week. This would have meant a 23 hour per week decrease at Hilltop and a 14.5 hour decrease at Canyonside recreation centers. The Council found funding for 48 hours per week. The Park and Recreation Department has also been directed to adjust daily recreation center hours to reflect the highest levels of usage at that center. Although this shift will make centers as accessible as possible, there will still be some reduction in hours. Canyonside Park recreation center is now open 54.5 hours per week and will lose 6.5 hours per week. Hilltop Park recreation center is currently open 63 hours per week and will lose 15 hours per week due to the budget reductions.

We were able to keep several park projects on track. The 30 acre park in Black Mountain Ranch is still slated for completion in early 2005, and the park in the Torrey Del Mar development is still scheduled to be built in 2005.

Although the City of San Diego has settled its budget, the State must still come to grips with a $38 billion deficit. I am concerned that the State may try to raid local government funds, as they did in the early 1990's, to balance the State budget. One proposal already floated in Sacramento would take $20 million away from the City of San Diego. This would mean terrible cuts in all areas of service, including police and fire. I hope that you will contact your State Assemblymembers and State Senators, just as you have contacted me, and let them know that local governments cannot take additional cuts in services.

This was not an easy budget year, and I am proud of the Mayor and my colleagues for being creative and earnest in their approach to the budget. Thank you to all the District 1 residents who provided input to me on the budget. Despite our difficult economic times, I am pleased that we have been able to devise a budget that protects public safety and quality of life programming.