(The Center Square) — The San Diego City Council has adopted its finalized budget for the fiscal year that starts in just eight days.
The council voted 6-3 Monday in favor of a compromised budget that partially overrides Mayor Todd Gloria’s line-item vetoes of the council’s previous budget.
“My hope and my belief is that the council and the mayor’s office will work together to make this budget work,” Council President Joe LaCava said during the meeting.
The council previously approved a budget for the next fiscal year after modifying the mayor’s budget on June 10, as reported by The Center Square. The council’s budget rejected the mayor’s proposed cuts on parks, recreation centers and libraries, and suggested different funding and spending restorations as a way to make revenue.
The mayor did not approve of the council’s budget in its totality and made line-item vetoes on June 18.
“My proposed budget that I presented to the city council was responsible, strategic, and balanced,” Gloria told the council at Monday’s meeting. “It included difficult cuts. Cuts that I didn’t want to make, cuts that none of us wanted to make, but that we needed to make in order to meet our legal obligations to balance the budget that reflects our actual fiscal reality.”
Here is a list of Gloria’s vetoes, according to Charles Modica, the city’s independent budget analyst, who spoke at Monday’s meeting.
Veto of $4.4 million in expenditures the council added on June 10.Veto of $3.5 million in various new revenues that council added on June 10.Veto of $1.4 million associated with five positions that council eliminated on June 10.Veto of $478,00 thousand in other resources that were tapped to balance the budget
The compromised budget kept a few of the mayoral vetoes such as eliminating $250,000 for a homeless outreach team and $225,000 to revive the city’s chief operating officer position, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.
The budget also, however, restored some funding for brush management, flood prevention, recreation programs, as well as $900,000 in discretionary funds that council members distribute to community groups and $450,000 for racial equality efforts, according to the Union-Tribune.
Councilmember Henry Foster introduced the motion to partially override the mayoral vetoes after the motion to fully override the vetoes failed in a 4-5 vote.
“This council is fighting to fund our nonprofits, and ensure our communities have what they need to directly improve the quality of life of our residents where this administration falls short,” Foster said at the meeting Monday.
Gloria addressed the council’s priority to protect libraries and recreation facilities and parks. He said he agreed with those changes and that they are reflected in the budget he is proposing to the council.
“It keeps libraries open, recreational open, restores access to Lake Murray and Lake Miramar, preserves beach fire pits, and it saves jobs for city employees,” the mayor said.
Gloria asked the council to vote to sustain his veto in fear the council’s budget is on unstable ground with overly optimistic assumptions regarding revenue.
“None of us want to be back here in just a few months, making emergency cuts because our revenue projection did not pan out,” Gloria said.
Before any motion was introduced on the floor, the mayor also warned the council that if it voted to override his mayoral vetoes entirely, he would not sign the budget. Gloria added that if projected revenue falls short in the next fiscal year, it will be the council’s fault because members have already been warned of that possibility.
“If this council’s projected revenues fall short, as the independent analyst has warned that they might, and deeper cuts must be made at mid-year, those cuts and those consequences belong to those who choose to ignore the advice and the warnings that have been given to this chamber,” Gloria said.
