Everyone loves to find money they didn't know they had. And every so often the city of San Diego seems to find another couple million or three. This time the windfall is about $11 million, which could go a substantial way toward closing the current $41 million deficit.
San Diego Auditor Eduardo Luna said more than 2,000 funds are used to manage the city's money. About two years ago a new financial management system was put in place to clean up a lot of past mistakes made with those funds. As the accounting is reviewed, sometimes money is discovered. Most recently about $11 million was transferred to the General Fund from a city environmental-protection fund. Luna said the money was always there; the transfer just hadn't been made.
"There's always an appearance that's there is money to be found. But the reality is, it's more of a delayed effect of closing the financial statements on a timely basis," said Luna.
"It's not looking through the cushions for spare change. It's really just a matter of going through the accounts and closing them out."
Luna says the accounting of fiscal year 2010 is nearly complete, and then the city should be caught-up. He said San Diego will have more accurate financial reporting from now on because of its new management system.
