Fiscal Year 2013

A Message From Mayor Sanders

To My Fellow San Diegans,

The City's Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2013 represents a major achievement for the City of San Diego - closure of the City's longstanding structural budget deficit.

To accomplish this goal, the City has taken aggressive action over the past several years, including: streamlining the organization; instituting numerous cost-saving measures, and implementing painful but necessary program and service cuts to ensure that projected revenues support current appropriation levels on an on-going basis.

For the first time in many years, projections of future revenues will now equal or exceed future expenditures related to current service levels, signifying an end to further service reductions, as well as the use of one-time funding for on-going obligations and reserve holidays. In addition, financial outlooks will reflect positive numbers for the foreseeable future.

I have worked closely with my management team to develop this balanced budget, which maintains our essential core services, fully funds the City's annual pension payment, provides funding for reserve contributions, and projects that the 8.0 percent goal for General Fund Reserves will not only be met, but exceeded. This budget also provides additional staffing and capital funding to address the backlog of deferred capital projects, continues the restoration of library and recreation center hours added in Fiscal Year 2012, and closes the projected General Fund budget deficit of $31.8 million.

The Fiscal Year 2013 Proposed General Fund Budget was balanced through a combination of cost savings such as Managed Competition, a lower-than-projected pension payment for Fiscal Year 2013, and stronger revenue growth. There are no additional service reductions in the Fiscal Year 2013 Proposed Budget.

The total proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2013 is $2.71 billion. This includes $1.15 billion for General Fund operations and $1.37 billion for operations of the City's Enterprise Funds and other City funds. Another $194.2 million is budgeted for capital improvement projects across the City. A complete copy of the budget is available on the City's website at www.sandiego.gov.

By eliminating the structural deficit, the City of San Diego has accomplished a fundamental act of good government - learning to live within its means.

Sincerely,

Jerry Sanders
Mayor