The San Diego City Council is meeting Friday to discuss the latest budget proposal that aims to restore some funding cuts from Mayor Todd Gloria’s revision last month.
Recommendations from the Office of the Independent Budget Analyst (IBA) include partial restorations to arts programs, homeless shelters and the Office of Child and Youth Services.
The IBA recommended that the city could reallocate up to $6 million in hotel tax revenue meant for the San Diego Convention Center to free up funds for arts and culture grant programs.
Independent Budget Analyst Charles Modica said this recommendation was months in the making.
The mayor’s draft budget slashed funding for the arts, resulting in public outcry and opposition from all nine council members.
“We have a very significant misalignment between the revenues that are coming into the city and the services and infrastructures that residents of the city expect us to provide,” Modica said. “Our revenues do not allow for us to provide the services and infrastructure that are expected. In order to kind of square that circle means that we need to look for additional resources, which is what this is.”
The mayor’s draft budget would cut 200 to 250 beds from the 16th and Newton homeless shelter. But the IBA said this would cause a systemwide shelter intake freeze, resulting in service disruptions.
Modica said the IBA's latest recommendation would result in a reduction of only 50 beds at this shelter and avoid some disruptions by removing city funding for the Lighthouse Interim Shelter. The non-city funded portion of this shelter would continue to operate.
The IBA also recommends the city restore a program coordinator for the Office of Youth Services. The current draft budget would cut this office entirely.
“The city historically has been very bad at supporting children and youth and families, we've pretended as if it's just the school district's job to take care of young people and that is an abdication of responsibility that I think is actually pretty shameful,” Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera said. “We've made that correction a couple of years ago, we invested in this position. It's brought millions of dollars in funding into the city. It's connecting youth to important resources and services.”
A spokesperson in the mayor’s office declined to comment on the IBA’s recommendations.
Modica said his recommendations take into account feedback from council members, city staff and the public. Councilmembers will discuss the recommendations at a hearing tomorrow, before a final vote is held on Tuesday, June 9.
