Unpopular proposed cuts to December Nights, library hours, recreation center hours and restroom maintenance would be reversed by San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria in a revised budget proposal he released Wednesday.
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The $13.5 million needed to reverse those proposed cuts comes primarily from revising upward estimates of hotel tax revenue during the new fiscal year and taking a new $4.3 million rent payment from city golf courses.
Other programs getting more money in the mayor’s revised budget include two crime prevention programs — youth drop-in centers and No Shots Fired — and a matching funds program for donations at libraries.
The revised budget does not restore any funding for local arts organizations, which are still facing the elimination of $11.8 million in annual city grants.
The budget, which aims to close a $146 million deficit, still includes dozens of layoffs, elimination of the Office of Child and Youth Success and cuts to homeless services, zoning investigators and facilities maintenance.
The mayor said his decision to restore funding for some programs doesn’t mean the city is veering from a highly conservative approach to its spending.
“These are practical, targeted restorations,” he said. “This May revision responds to feedback from the City Council and the public where possible, while keeping the city on stable financial footing.”
The mayor has prioritized firefighting, law enforcement, infrastructure projects and roads in the new budget, requiring significant cuts almost everywhere else.
Council President Joe LaCava, who praised the revisions Wednesday, stressed that the new revenue the mayor relies on veers from the city’s recent practice of raising fees on residents — like trash fees or paid parking in Balboa Park.
The mayor’s release of his “May revise” budget puts the city’s annual budget negotiations into the home stretch, with final wish lists from the City Council due next week and the final budget debate scheduled for June 9.
Funding for December Nights and shoreline restrooms would be fully restored in the revised budget, but funding for hours at library branches and recreation centers would only be partly restored.
The revised proposal prioritizes libraries and rec centers in low-income Council Districts 4, 8 and 9 — all south of Interstate 8 — and focuses proposed cuts elsewhere in the city.
Six library branches would have their Saturday hours cut in half: La Jolla, Point Loma, downtown, Mira Mesa, Rancho Bernardo and Linda Vista. Three other branches would lose all their Monday hours: North Park, University Heights and Allied Gardens.
Previous plans to close the North Clairemont library branch are reversed in the revised budget. Additional savings would come from extended closures of the Ocean Beach and Rancho Peñasquitos branches for renovations.
The revised budget also eliminates a plan to close the Carmel Valley library branch on Mondays.
Several recreation centers would fully close under the mayor’s revised plan.
They include Cabrillo, Cadman, Santa Clara, South Clairemont, Hilltop, Lopez Ridge, Tecolote, Robb Athletic Field and Nobel Athletic Fields. Plans to close the La Jolla recreation center have been revised to a reduction in weekly hours from 60 to 40.
The restorations shrink the amount of savings from library cuts from $2.4 million to about $1.7 million. The restorations shrink the amount of savings from rec center cuts from $5.4 million to about $2.4 million.
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Councilmember Henry Foster, who represents the mostly low-income neighborhoods of District 4, said it’s crucial to keep libraries and rec centers open as many hours as possible in low-income areas.
“Our libraries are safe spaces for learning, workforce development, internet access and community connections,” Foster said. “Our recreation centers and parks provide our youth with positive spaces to gather, stay active and build relationships.”
Michel Anderson of the San Diego Parks Foundation offered similar sentiments.
“These neighborhood and community parks and associated recreation centers provide so much to so many,” he said.
The revised budget also consolidates the city’s efforts to remove flammable brush, which have been splintered between the Fire-Rescue, Transportation and Parks and Recreation departments.
Other new expenditures include $2.2 million to install signs that lower speed limits across the city and money to rebuild a restroom in Mount Hope’s Dennis V. Allen Memorial Park and to create an off-leash area in Mission Heights Park.
The new revenue includes a revision upward of $4.6 million in hotel tax revenue during the new fiscal year. That revision was prompted by a notable increase of roughly that size this spring.
Gloria said the news is good, but cautioned against too much optimism as local tourism continues to be less than normal.
“I wouldn’t call it a turnaround, but I would call it enough for us to reasonably restore some of these services,” the mayor said.
The other main revenue driver is the $4.3 million from golf courses, which is expected to become an annual, ongoing revenue stream.
The mayor said the new payment from the courses is the result of new legal guidance that allows the city to properly account for the value of the land occupied by the city’s three municipal courses: Torrey Pines, Balboa and Mission Bay.
He stressed that there will still be enough in the city’s Golf Enterprise Fund to pay for course maintenance and capital improvement projects, including a planned $170 million new clubhouse at Torrey Pines.
The enterprise fund generates $15 million in annual income. The city plans to shift financing of capital projects to debt financing, which will accelerate how quickly projects can be tackled.
Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, who has spearheaded efforts to transfer golf revenue to local parks, praised the mayor’s move and said it’s about time San Diego started reaping the benefits of its courses.
“San Diego has some of the most celebrated public golf courses in the country,” Elo-Rivera said.
Elo-Rivera praised the revised budget, but said he still wants to see other restorations, particularly to arts funding and the Office of Child and Youth Success.
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“This is a real win, but it’s not the whole fight,” he said.
