The City of San Diego has reached out to the public for suggestions on closing its budget deficit, and has now established a more official board of residents to help the city promote its businesses — and its revenues. The Citizens Revenue Review and Economic Competitiveness Commission was tasked in October to research methods of retaining and attracting business; to research strategies for maximizing revenues; and to look at city surveys to better understand the services the public desires.  The commission was initiated by District 1 Councilwoman Sherri Lightner, District 3 Councilman Todd Gloria and District 4 Councilman Tony Young. Eight commissioners were appointed by council members to serve on the board, including Andrea Moser, vice president for communications at Burnham Institute for Medical Research, for District 1, and Michael Morton, chief executive officer for Brigantine Restaurant Corporation, for District 2. The commission will add its suggestions to a paper trail of committees gone before it, however. In the 2009 Special Citizen’s Task Force report, the task force said the city’s budget crisis lay in “living beyond its means” by deferring expenses and postponing or under-funding aging infrastructure, retirement plans and retiree medical benefits. The city had masked the full cost of the latter expenses for several years. One of the Task Force’s top recommendations was to cut retirement benefits. “The City must find a way to reduce what has heretofore been deemed ‘vested retirement benefits,’” states the report. “The City must make a firm decision on whether it wants to and, importantly, can afford to grant retiree health benefits. “If such benefits are to continue the City must immediately commence fully funding the actuarially required annual amount. If the City decides it cannot afford such (as the Task Force believes to be the case) then the City must formally announce to its employees that the benefit has been eliminated. It is the Task Force’s recommendation that the benefit be eliminated after an appropriate notice period.” To view the Special Citizen’s Task Force report and for more information on the Citizens Revenue Review and Economic Competitiveness Commission, visit www.sandiego.gov /crrecc.