The proposed sales tax in San Diego has been soundly rejected. Now various city officials are weighing in on whether the city will have to slash public safety spending. City Attorney Jan Goldsmith said no.
"This city has a lot of options to cut spending. Not by eliminating police or fire, but by doing things differently, more efficiently," he said. "We seem to have a city that becomes unnecessarily big and complicated. We make a lot of mistakes along those lines."
Goldsmith said it’s not the end of the world that the sales tax increase failed. He said San Diego will pick up the pieces, work together and find a solution to the city’s budget problems. Goldsmith did not offer any specifics.
Carl DeMaio, a leading opponent of the sales tax measure said he’ll release his financial plan for the city on Friday. He said it saves $757 million over the next five years without raising taxes and without cutting public safety. He has yet to say how.
