Video Transcript:

GLORIA PENNER (Host): Joining me now for their opinions on the city’s projected budget deficit are J.W. August, managing editor of KGTV 10 News, and David Rolland, editor of San Diego City Beat. Well you heard what Katie said gentlemen. How are the council members – let me start with you, J.W. – reacting to the budget deficit?

JW AUGUST (10News): I think they’re doing the same smoke and mirrors things they’ve done for years. Nobody wants to really come, even though Carl Demaio has said some pretty – we have to have some strong medicine to deal with the problems we have. We have to remember that these problems go back years and years, is just suddenly didn’t arise.

PENNER: Well that’s what I was thinking. It couldn’t have been much of a surprise for them.

AUGUST: I think they’ve known it’s been coming for a long, long time. But wanting to deal with it is another issue.

PENNER: Ok, so what is their job now that we know pretty much what the shortfall is going to be?

DAVID ROLLAND (San Diego City Beat): Well I guess I have a little bit more sympathy for the current crop of council members because all they can do is cut services. And they way they tell the story is that they’ve already cut – we’ve cut as much as we possibly can. They're talking about cutting a quarter of every budget, every department budget across the city and there are some departments that simply cannot withstand a cut like that.

PENNER: Like which?

ROLLAND: Well, like Ben Hueso was saying, just for example, he was saying this week when they were having a budget hearing that code compliance – that people make sure everybody is following land use rules and that sort of thing. They might as well just cease to stop – just fold that department because they just simply can’t withstand that kind of cut.

PENNER: But what we’re hearing is that favorite phrase, J.W., that ‘everything’s on the table.’ So everything is on the table isn’t it?

AUGUST: I think this time it is. I mean, its come home to roost, we’re going to have to do something. There’s no magic pot of gold anywhere. We’re going to have to decide. I don’t hear them talking about bankruptcy, that’s one extreme, but there's potential for a lot of painful things to come for the citizens.

PENNER: Well you heard what Katie said – even the police and fire departments could be on the line. So is this city council up to handling such a crisis, or is this too political thing for them to touch? Are they too soft to make the tough choices here?

ROLLAND: Well it gets political when you start talking about one side of the ledger. There are two things you can do in a crisis like this. You can stop spending money or you can try to raise more money. The politics really come in when you start talking about the revenue side of the ledger. There are a couple of things they can do, as Katie was saying. You know, it wont help the current situation, but if you plan for raising revenue and there are a couple of choices, as she was saying, you can raise money with new trash fees for certain residents and you can also raise the storm water fee that would simply pay for that program as much as it costs. And that would raise, I believe the number is $80 million you can raise going forward.

PENNER: Well, we will see what they decide to do, so let's go to another topic.