Mayor begins laying out budget proposal

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published April 9, 2006 at 9:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders says he plans to sell $500 million in pension obligation bonds over the next two years to plug the pension deficit hole. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The mayor will reveal elements of his budget plan every day this week, leading up to the full budget proposal on Friday. His strategy includes putting $850 million into the pension plan over two years, in a concerted effort to bring down the unfunded liability.

However, much of that will come from borrowing, by buying pension obligation bonds. Sanders says borrowing will leave more cash in the city coffers to deal with other problems.

Become a KPBS sponsor

Sanders: "We will be putting that money into deferred maintenance, into reserves, we will not be hiring new people starting new programs, we'll be on the same austerity budget we're on right now."

The mayor says he will fully fund the police department, which has been under funded for years. The police force is currently short 135 officers, but the new budget will allow the force to hire up to full staffing of 2,100 officers. Alison St John, KPBS News.

Alison St John

twitter

Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.