The city of San Diego has just over $5 billion to build new infrastructure and take care of what it has. But a new report says the city needs nearly $13 billion between fiscal years 2027 and 2031.
Staff presented the report to the City Council’s Active Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Thursday.
One of the largest gaps is in funding for stormwater infrastructure, with $5.5 billion in needs and only $425 million to spend.
But the needs stretch across the city. Fire stations need to be updated and new ones are needed. New police facilities are needed, including a firing range, and much more.
“We have a growing need for new buildings, but we also have a growing need for maintenance of our existing buildings,” said District 5 Councilmember Marni Von Wilpert. “I see this chasm growing. We need more housing, but we also need more public safety infrastructure to meet the needs of our citizenry.”
Accountability was on the mind of Henry Foster III, the council member for District 4.
“I think there's just some things we need to do to make sure that we have some accountability, not only for our external partners, but also internally, because I think there's room for improvement. We need to work on identifying those improvements,” he said.
Thursday’s meeting was only informational; no vote was taken and there was almost no public testimony. The report is expected to go to the full City Council next month.
