Editor’s Note: This article from Community Contributor Mike Frattali was published in the July University City News which went to print before the City Council held its meeting on Monday, June 23, to consider overruling the Mayor’s line item veto. The PDF version of the July print newsletter is available at: https://www.universitycitynews.org/ucca-newsletter-archives/
Updated 6/24/2025 from Mike Frattali: This has been a contentious budget year for San Diego. Usually, the mayor proposes the budget in April, the council makes changes at budget hearings, the mayor produces a May Revise to accommodate the changes, and the budget is approved by the Council.
FY 2026 was different. The Council has made contested changes to the budget which the mayor vetoed, only to have many of the vetoes overridden by the Council. Most of the conflict over spending was generated by the mayor attempting to reign in the Council’s pet projects while the Council attempted to restrict the mayor’s executive authority.
Unfortunately, both the mayor and council neglected far more serious issues, and overlooked important taxpayer concerns:
1. Fees are skyrocketing. The city imposed a major new trash collection fee and parking will become more expensive. Add higher water and sewer rates and the cost of living continues to ratchet up. Tax revenue increased despite the rejection of the deeply flawed proposed sales tax hike on the 2024 ballot. The cost of living continues to ratchet up.
2. Street and storm drain maintenance are still being neglected. There is no plan to significantly improve the condition of the city’s deteriorating roads.
3. The city isn’t doing enough to promote public safety. Brush management to mitigate wildfire risk was only partially restored and additional funds to clear storm drains were cut.
4. City leadership is doing nothing to address persistent and ongoing deficits in deferred infrastructure maintenance. The city declined to contribute to the Infrastructure Fund.
5. San Diego will in all probability face ongoing budget deficits in FY 2026. The budget still rests on dubious revenue projections and the mayor and Independent Budget Analyst expect that mid-year budget cuts are a real possibility.
Regardless of the back and forth over minor budget cuts, the city still has not even begun a shift towards a fiscally responsible budget. The mayor and the council are taking steps on the margin to balance the budget by increasing revenue and making some small cuts to the budget. There were no real efforts to implement long overdue structural budget reforms, such as significant reductions in senior management positions or pension reform.
- For more City Budget Information: https://www.sandiego.gov/finance
- See also from the San Diego Union Tribune; paid subscription may be required to read:
San Diego finalizes compromise budget by partially overriding mayoral veto
