The San Diego City Council held a postponed public hearing on Wednesday to consider Mayor Todd Gloria's revised $6.4 billion budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year.
Before the hearing, members of San Diego's arts community rallied at Civic Center Plaza to demand the restoration of $11.8 million in cuts to the city's arts and culture funding. The city faces a $118 million deficit.
When Mayor Todd Gloria announced his initial budget in April, he said some cuts were needed to adequately fund public safety. At that time, the cuts included a reduction in library and recreation center hours. Earlier this month, some funding was restored in Gloria’s “May revise,” but the arts cuts remained.
San Diego Art Matters executive director Bob Lehman called the cut short-sighted and said in the long run, it would actually cost the city more money.
“It's kind of like taking, you know, quitting your job to save gas money. We bring in dollars," he said. "You can't, if you stop funding us, that amount of flow of dollars is gonna decrease again.”
Lehman also said the cuts could mean larger institutions charging visitors for programs that are currently free. "So things that were free for veterans, for seniors or kids will now cost money. For smaller to midsize organizations, some of them will actually disappear. They won't survive this. So it's gonna have some real impact in the city," Lehman said.
The city council was scheduled to take up the budget last week, but that meeting was postponed after the May 18 shootings at the Islamic Center of San Diego.
