San Diego Redditors bring tough budget questions to this week's AMA

When projected municipal revenue falls short, it's the residents who will have to sacrifice city services as San Diego's leaders debate what programs to cut and by how much.

KPBS has been tracking Mayor Todd Gloria's budget proposals and what's on the chopping block — library hours, recreation center hours and beach fire rings among them.

San Diego's Independent Budget Analyst Charles Modica joined reporter Andrew Bowen Wednesday for an AMA (ask me anything) on the r/SanDiego subreddit.

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People wanted to know what the city's largest expenditures are, what is causing the deficit and who to blame for it. Modica and Bowen explain some of the causes.

The top question — most upvoted by r/SanDiego users — pertained to the proposed elimination of beach fire pits. One Redditor points out that fire pits are a fraction of a fraction of the budget. Modica explains, essentially, cuts have to come from somewhere.

Some people wanted to know who to blame. Modica said it isn't so simple.

"It's difficult because you can't just point the finger at one person or one thing," Modica told KPBS in an interview after the AMA. "In many ways, the situation that we're in has been decades in the making."

This estimated $300 million budget deficit came from somewhere — as KPBS previously reported, it's due to the city's over-estimation of revenue. Declining revenue from sales tax and lower fees paid by utilities and cable companies to use public rights-of-way are primarily to blame.

Modica explains here:

The city's high-profile bike lane projects — widely criticized by various small business owners during interviews on evening newscasts — also came up as an example of possible wasteful spending.

Both Bowen and Modica explain why they're not especially burdensome.

Redditor u/apoptosista posits the city's wealthy residents might not be paying their "fair share." Bowen explains any targeted type of tax on wealth is either unlawful — due to Prop 13 — or easily avoided.

One user via a now-deleted comment asked about police overtime pay — something KPBS has reported on. Bowen explains it's tough to cut the police when so many citizens are unhappy with long response times.

More in-depth responses to many more questions are live on the reddit AMA now.