The federal government under President Donald Trump has passed major cuts to the services San Diego County provides to its poorest residents.
It stood out when the county recently gave one-time bonuses of about $1,000 to most of its employees by dipping into its reserves. County Supervisor Jim Desmond explained why he was upset about the decision at a recent board meeting.
“I’m in favor of all of our hardworking employees and county staff getting good compensation for the good work you’re doing,” Desmond said. “But using reserves to carry out employee pay agreements, to me, is the wrong path to go down. We should not be doing that.”
What Desmond didn’t say is he technically voted for the labor agreement that triggered those bonuses.
What happened
Progressives and labor unions have long argued that San Diego County was too frugal. The county had built up very large reserves in recent years.
This year, the Democratic majority on the board of supervisors passed a policy to theoretically allow them to dip into county reserves more easily.
However, the supervisors had also made deals with employee unions that if they ever changed that policy, the county would have to first give employees bonuses. Those are the deals Desmond had supported.
But the county could not actually tap into reserves to pay for those bonuses because the Democrats on the board needed at least one Republican to vote with them. The Republicans refused.
How things changed
In recent weeks, Democrats on the board moved some money around and found a way to tap into the reserves to pay for the bonuses without the support of their Republican colleagues.
Yet the county’s financial situation remains so dire that Democrats and unions are expected to promote a tax increase next year.
