Two weeks ago, the city of San Diego achieved a significant milestone that will result in savings for taxpayers and more tax dollars to use for neighborhood improvements.  After two years of chairing the city’s Audit Committee and working with the mayor, city staff and San Diego voters on financial reform, our hard work bore fruit with the city’s first public bond sale in five years. This bond sale will save taxpayers more than $8 million. Until recently, past-due annual financial audits had cast a long shadow of doubt over the city’s fiscal fitness and left the city with a credit rating that was next to the lowest possible. Since public lenders were not willing to take a chance on San Diego, only the private market — with its much higher interest rates — was available to lend San Diego the funds to make infrastructural improvements, which include replacing and fixing aging pipes to help prevent breaks and spills, and to help keep our neighborhoods safe and functioning. In 2007, when the Audit Committee was established, the city was rendered nearly immobile financially. For the last two years I have chaired the Audit Committee and worked with Mayor Jerry Sanders, auditors and city staff to complete the five overdue audits.  I also worked with you, the voters and taxpayers of San Diego, to pass Prop C, which established an independent auditor’s office to be the taxpayers’ watchdog, and added volunteer citizen experts to the Audit Committee. These safeguards will help ensure that city government and politicians are more transparent and accountable, and tax dollars are used properly. In response to these reforms, the rating agencies have upgraded San Diego’s credit rating and opened the door for the city to re-enter the public bond market.  What does this mean for us and our families? It means more of our tax dollars can be used for services and projects we need, instead of paying the higher interest rates charged by private lenders. It means more can be invested in water and sewer infrastructure to help reduce breaks and spills, more can be invested in our roads and streets to help reduce traffic and more can be invested in our public safety infrastructure so that San Diego is better prepared for the next firestorm.  Refunding the 1998 bonds saves the city more than $8.7 million over the next 12 years, which represents 5.9 percent in net present value savings —well above the savings target of 3 percent — and makes even more funds available for investment in our infrastructure.   Even though the economic climate has taken a downturn recently and we still face many challenges, the city of San Diego has made changes that will help to provide more neighborhood services at lesser cost. Now we are entering the annual budget formation process. The city’s budget deficit was caused by decades of mismanagement and has added to the impact of the nation’s overall economic recession.  As we begin to review options on how to balance the budget, I look forward to your creative ideas and input. Our neighborhoods are built on the strength of each of you, and I believe we can find the best solutions for our city.   I encourage you to contact my office to share your ideas or tell me about anything I can do to help improve your neighborhood.  Together, I know that we can continue moving San Diego forward.  — District 2 Councilman Kevin Faulconer represents a small area of La Jolla, downtown San Diego, and beach areas including the Ocean Beach, Point Loma, Mission Beach and Pacific Beach communities. He can be reached at (619) 236-6622 or by e-mail at [email protected].