Mayor\u2019s five-year outlook is \u2018good news, but not great news,\u2019 IBA says<\/p>\n
By Joseph Pe\u00f1a | SDUN Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and District 3 Councilmember Todd Gloria recently released projections on the City\u2019s five-year budget, with service restoration suffering the most. <\/p>\n The five-year financial outlook shows a decline in deficits and a 2017 fiscal year surplus, but service cuts will continue to plague residents. The mayor\u2019s five-year forecast predicts deficits of $31.8 million in 2013, $36.6 million in 2014, $28.1 million in 2015, $5.6 million in 2016, and a surplus of $22.7 million in 2017.<\/p>\n In past years, in an effort to balance the budget and respond to deficits, District 3 library and recreation center hours were cut, park maintenance was diminished, a city customer service storefront was closed, and the City sold horses used for mounted police patrols in Balboa Park, replacing them with All Terrain Vehicles. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to balance the budget year after year, but we\u2019ve been doing that largely at the expense of neighborhood services,\u201d said Gloria, chair of the City\u2019s Budget and Finance Committee. He added that financing infrastructure improvements have been made through bonds. For example, the new Mission Hills-Hillcrest library is currently financed by donation, but Gloria said it will be a challenge to fund additional staff and costs associated with opening the library. <\/p>\n In an analysis of the mayor\u2019s outlook, which projects no service restorations, Independent Budget Analyst (IBA) Andrea Tevlin notes that the five-year forecast \u201cmaintains service levels as they are today.\u201d <\/p>\n In her review, Tevlin writes, \u201cSome of the significant service impacts to the community include a reduction in the number of academy classes for police and fire; elimination of 130 police civilian support positions; reduction of lifeguard beach service; elimination of park maintenance and security positions; reduction in swimming programs; reduction in library hours and staffing; and closure of the remaining 15 community service centers.\u201d<\/p>\n The mayor\u2019s outlook isn\u2019t required to include significant increases in service levels, but it assumes \u201clittle to no improvement in service areas over the next five years,\u201d Tevlin wrote. It also assumes no increase in salary or wages for city employees. <\/p>\n In an interview, Tevlin called the mayor\u2019s outlook \u201cgood news, but not great news.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThe outlook is an improvement over the past five years,\u201d Tevlin said. \u201cThis is the first time in some time that we\u2019ve been able to show a surplus \u2013 even five years out. The caveat is, there are very low service levels compared to 10 years ago. The budget has been balanced through service reductions, and there is no discussion of restoration of service levels in the mayor\u2019s outlook. Service levels have deteriorated. Yes, the budget is in better shape, but we\u2019re still looking at deficits for the next four years.\u201d<\/p>\n Tevlin also notes in her analysis that the forecast doesn\u2019t include the cost of the ninth council district. Tevlin and Gloria both said they worry that other council districts will have their budgets cut to accommodate the new seat. <\/p>\n \u201cThere are operating costs that go with the creation of the voter-mandated new council district,\u201d Tevlin said. \u201cWe can\u2019t pretend to offset those costs by cutting the budgets of other council districts. Voters asked for more representation, not less.\u201d <\/p>\n Gloria said he is running a \u201clean operation\u201d in District 3, and is concerned he could lose a part of his budget.<\/p>\n \u201cMy staff doesn\u2019t want for work,\u201d Gloria said. \u201cWhen trust in government is as low as it is, my constituents need to see my staff and I out, and we need to be accessible. The best way to build trust with the public is to get things done.\u201d <\/p>\n With service level reductions impacting neighborhoods, organizations like the Hillcrest Town Council play an important role in doing what the city can\u2019t. On Nov. 19, Hillcrest residents, mobilized by members of the Hillcrest Town Council, assembled small teams for a neighborhood cleanup. Mayor\u2019s five-year outlook is \u2018good news, but not great news,\u2019 IBA says By Joseph Pe\u00f1a | SDUN Reporter San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and District 3 Councilmember Todd Gloria recently released projections on the City\u2019s five-year budget, with service restoration suffering the most. The five-year financial outlook shows a decline in deficits and a 2017 […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":244706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"City\u2019s financial forecast leaves no room for service restoration","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11593,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-no-images","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOther needs, however, will be difficult to address. <\/p>\n
\n \u201cCommunities have seen direct repercussions of budget cuts, and we expect to see more,\u201d said Luke Terpstra, chair of the Hillcrest Town Council. \u201cGroups like ours, in some small way, are expected to pick up the slack. If the city can\u2019t do it, it can\u2019t do it. There\u2019s no sense in beating anyone up over it.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"