With nearly the entire City Council, the city attorney and other local and international leaders flanking him, Mayor Jerry Sanders stood on the stage of the newly renovated Balboa Theatre in Downtown and offered a vision of accountability, cooperation and restoration of San Diego’s reputation as America’s Finest City.
And while he didn’t outline precisely how he would accomplish this vision during his annual State of the City address on Thursday, Jan. 10, he did mention what has transpired in his two years as mayor and spoke in broader terms about what he wants for the city in the next year.
“This year, our goal is to return San Diego to the public bond market after four long years,” Sanders said, drawing a round of applause from the crowd. “The restoration of our credit and our good name is critical “¦ Success on this and other fronts will require the cooperation of the City Council, the city attorney and the city employees.”
Though Sanders boasts four years of “clean” audit opinions as of this February, the city has yet to fix all the financial reporting problems identified in an independent report released by New York-based risk management firm Kroll, Inc. in 2006.
As of December 2007, city management has remediated 91 of the 149 internal control weaknesses related to the city’s financial reporting that were identified in the report, according to the city’s Annual Report on Internal Controls released Jan. 1, 2008.
On top of getting the city back into the bond market, which would secure resources for infrastructural needs, Sanders also said he is putting $102 million toward underfunded and neglected projects. Sanders was not specific about what those projects might be.
Sanders also said he wants major changes to the city’s employee pension and health-care systems, including the elimination of the DROP program for city employees not already enrolled. The program had allowed potential retirees to remain employed for five additional years beyond retirement age, allowing them to continue regular paycheck and pension.
Employees hired after July 1, 2005, are not eligible for the program, according to city documents. It was not immediately clear whether Sanders was proposing to eliminate the DROP program retroactively.
Sanders also said a new pension system for non-sworn members of the police and fire departments would reduce taxpayers’ liability and save hundreds of millions of dollars over the years. He did not specify exactly how much it would save, nor did he talk about the details of the pension system.
However, the city’s unions may not like the changes Sanders proposes when they meet at the bargaining table this year, he said.
“Unless we work together to reduce city costs, the staff reductions we’ve made so far would be small compared to the reductions we would need in the future,” he said.
In that spirit, Sanders gave some hard figures, saying that since the start of his tenure the city has eliminated 670 positions, some of which could not be accounted for in city records or which were determined to be unfilled at the time.
During his address, Sanders also threw support behind a “strong mayor” form of government that he said gives the mayor a “real” veto. And while he did mention the need for an independent audit committee, he avoided taking a position on whether he endorses an elected city auditor position.
Richard Rider, chair of San Diego Tax Fighters, said in an independent interview that the city needs an elected official for that position.
“We need a truly independent auditor,” he said. “You don’t want people appointed to an office because they would only provide information the people who elected them want to hear.”
Rider, a grassroots organizer and taxpayer advocate, said he’s disappointed Sanders didn’t talk more about putting city contracts out to competitive bid, even though voters approved the measure in 2006.
Sanders said 16 city functions are slated to go out for competitive bid. While Sanders didn’t go into detail about the program, Rider said it would be good for taxpayers.
“There are spectacular savings to be had in such circumstances, which have not been aggressively pursued,” he said.
Rider said the county has already started contracting out some of its services with great results.
During the speech, Sanders shared the stage with county Supervisor Ron Roberts, who addressed the need for more resources and greater local control over air support for firefighters. Roberts also said firefighters need more locally based fire trucks and equipment.
Roberts served as chair of the county Board of Supervisors during the 2007 California wildfires.
“Although we certainly want more help from the state and federal governments, more must be done locally,” Roberts said.
The audience applauded loudly while Sanders and Roberts thanked local firefighters for their efforts.
Before ending his speech, Sanders also addressed water shortage issues. He said he would work to secure more water for the region in light of the expected 12 percent reduction of water from the San Francisco/San Joaquin River Delta because of a federal court decision.
“We owe our ourselves and our children greater reliability. If moving water through the delta is problematic, then we must move water around the delta,” he said.
He said he planned to convene a summit of California mayors to meet and come up with a plan to get more water for this region and others in California. To view the address, click on the News Center at www.san-diego.gov/mayor.