Daily Business Report: Monday, May 12, 2025
Signs of San Diego Budget Mismanagement Grow as Audits Find Millions in Uncollected Fees
By Evan Symon | California Globe
Budgetary problems in the city of San Diego have been seemingly endless since last year. In November, San Diego City Schools announced a $176 million deficit. In February, the city itself was $258 million in the red. Last month, it grew even worse when it was recalculated to show that they were over $300 million in debt for the upcoming fiscal year. And that’s not even getting into La Jolla currently making a bid to become their own city and taking away a significant amount of tax revenue if they do.
Mayor Todd Gloria and other city officials have scrambled to do anything to fix the problem. They managed to save $13 million by consolidating office space. The next budget, due in a few months, is expected to have a lot of cuts to make up for it, including to police, homeless services, libraries, and other essential services. City lawmakers and employees, however, aren’t getting pay cuts. While other big cities, like Los Angeles and San Francisco, have a lot of sacrifices to cut back on their budgets, including SF Mayor Daniel Lurie not taking a salary and LA Mayor Karen Bass agreeing to a reduced salary, San Diego isn’t taking those needed drastic steps. And Councilmembers are getting anxious.
“I’m concerned the that revenue projections in the mayor’s proposed budget may be fairly rosy” and that a big change between April and May throws the entire process out of whack,” said Councilman Kent Lee. “Council needs to understand what the next potential layers of impact you are anticipating are, because those are going to be part of the discussion that we have to have. I think if we just spent our time discussing what’s in this proposal, we’re likely going to miss a chunk of things that you’ll bring forward in May.”
Paloma Aguirre: I will end the neglect of South County, push for sewage fix
By Paloma Aguirre | San Diego Union Tribune
The county’s recently released budget totals $8.65 billion and includes over 700 pages worth of projects and plans. How much is dedicated to fixing South County’s biggest local challenge — the Tijuana River toxic sewage crisis that’s poisoning our air, water and economy?
Just 0.02%.
That’s not a typo. It’s a clear message. To the downtown crowd, South County families facing an extreme public health disaster aren’t even worth a fraction of a percent.
And it’s not just the sewage. For decades, South County has been overlooked. While other districts get new parks, fire stations and libraries, our community, District 1, got almost nothing from the county the last two years — except money for jail repairs.
John McCann: Fiscal discipline, not tax hikes, is key to balancing budget
By John McCann | San Diego Union Tribune
A stark contrast between myself and my opponent for District 1 county supervisor is my strong knowledge of finances and ability to balance a budget.
My opponent is on record in support of raiding the county’s reserves to address these deficits. I believe reserves should be for true emergencies like wildfires, natural disasters or severe economic downturns.
County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer’s $1 billion new tax proposal would create new agencies intended to regulate and harass small businesses in the county. She’s also proposing a government-owned bank to fund special interest projects.
