With next week’s election approaching and a major budget deficit on the horizon, National City’s two leading mayoral candidates sparred this week over how to patch over the city’s financial shortfall.
In a forum with KPBS’ Midday Edition Monday, City Councilmembers Marcus Bush and Jose Rodriguez debated an ongoing proposal for a new tax on local business licenses. They also discussed their plans to help residents manage rising housing costs and other expenses.
The two Democrats are in a tight race to succeed outgoing-Mayor Ron Morrison and take the helm of the small, working-class city.
Two other candidates, Jacobb Castrejon and Mitch Beauchamp, are also running for mayor this fall. Neither has reported receiving any endorsements or campaign donations.
Hanging over the race is National City’s $13 million structural deficit.
City Manager Douglas Schulze oversees daily administration of the city’s $90 million budget. Unless the city starts bringing in new revenue soon, he said they could be forced to start cutting into city-run services like the library, the swimming pool and the George H. Waters Nutrition Center.
On Monday, Rodriguez touted his past efforts to champion the proposed business license tax, which could bring in up to $7 million in new annual revenue. He criticized Bush and other city councilmembers for delaying a vote on the tax to at least 2027.
“I think what we’re asking for is nothing out of the ordinary,” Rodriguez said. “We want to make sure that we have bigger businesses… help our community.”
Bush pledged to rein in city spending and defended his vote to push back the business license tax. He said the City Council needed to engage more with local businesses and reach a compromise.
“We have hundreds of businesses here in National City, and we have to do our job and our work to listen,” Bush said.
The two councilmembers also outlined their plans for makaing housing more affordable for National City residents.
Bush said he would allow homeowners to sell ADUs separately under a state law that gives cities the power to do so. He also pledged to revive the city’s shuttered grant program to assist homebuyers with their down payments.
“We don't have that anymore because we're not spending our money efficiently,” Bush said. “So we need to address that in order to give more opportunities for home ownership.”
Rodriguez pledged to expand the city’s rent stabilization to cover apartment buildings. National City does have local rent stabilization, but it only covers mobile home parks.
“That's on one end to try to make sure that we control rent prices, and we keep the already-existing affordable [housing] affordable,” Rodriguez said.
KPBS Midday Edition host Jade Hindmon asked both candidates where they stood on increasing the minimum wage locally.
Like most cities in California, National City currently follows the state minimum wage of $16.90 per hour. Neither Rodriguez or Bush has committed to raising the minimum wage, but both said they would be open to looking at it.
During the forum, the two councilmembers accused each other of mishandling public funds in various ways.
Rodriguez accused Bush of improperly receiving money for travel from the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS), the regional public transit agency, for travel that never happened. Bush serves as National City’s representative on the MTS board.
Bush said MTS had over-reimbursed him around $1,000 and was in the process of paying that money back. Voice of San Diego has reported that amount is closer to $4,000.
Bush fired back, pointing out that two years ago Rodriguez spent $47,000 in taxpayer funds to hire a consultant he had connections with.
The consultant, Cindy Lopez, was the president of a local Democratic club and endorsed Rodriguez shortly after the contract was signed. Rodriguez later hired Lopez as an executive assistant.
In December 2024, Bush and two other City Councilmembers voted to formally reprimand Rodriguez for allegedly violating city policies.
The money Rodriguez spent came from the City Council’s individual $100,000 funds, which each councilmember has access to. Bush is now pushing to reduce or eliminate those funds amid the deficit.
Lopez is currently running for City Council against current-Councilmember Luz Molina.
“What I've done is been honest with the voters and said, ‘Look, I have made mistakes,’” Bush said Monday. “I haven't heard that from Jose.”
Rodriguez said Bush was being hypocritical but did not directly respond to his concerns.
You can listen to the full conversation on KPBS’ Midday Edition’s ‘Ballot Breakdown’ series.
