10 Citizens’ Budget Reforms Released

“San Diego Citizens’ Budget Plan” Mixes Long-Term Structural Reforms with Immediate Cost Saving Reforms to Balance the Budget

The 10 reforms include: a Balanced Budget Accountability Initiative, the launch of an independent audit of city Enterprise and Special Funds, reorganization and consolidation of city operations for cost efficiencies, creation of a “311” Citizen Service Center, competitive sourcing on city support services to produce $10 million in cost savings, reform of the city’s employee incentive and Optimization programs, and a modification of the City’s Charter to require an annual Appropriations Limit. The plan also calls for $40 million in savings by reducing by roughly half the employee salary increases planned during FY 2005. Those savings would be directly credited towards a comprehensive pension reform package. Finally, in a move sure to upset some City Hall insiders, the plan calls for a $5 million reduction in subsidies to special interests and a $4.5 million cut in the personal staff of the Mayor and Council Members. The Institute’s plan provides a balance of $3.5 million in additional funding to reverse some cuts in library hours and park and recreation programs.

“There has been a lot of talk at Council over the past few weeks about accountability, transparency and reform. Reform has to be more than rhetoric—it has to be real. The San Diego Citizens’ Budget Plan being released today will result in real reform in the way the city budgets and accounts for taxpayer funds, as well as the way city departments are managed,” noted Carl DeMaio, President of the Performance Institute.

At the same City Council meeting, City Manager Lamont Ewell will unveil his proposed solutions to the state’s cuts of $22.5 million in FY 2005. Unfortunately, the proposal only addresses $17.5 million of the state’s anticipated cuts and relies on $10.3 million in new revenues and reserve funds the Manager is only now disclosing to the Council. The Manager’s plan also proposes a $3.1 million increase in the Business Tax Processing Fee, a $1 million raid on the Mission Bay Improvement and Parking Meter District Funds, and $3 million in management reform savings.

“The revelation that City bureaucrats have been sitting on more than $10 million in available funds this whole time is shocking. It questions whether the funds they claim are actually going to be available or are just gimmicks to balance the budget on paper,” questioned DeMaio.

Based here in San Diego, the Institute is a national government reform think tank that promotes the principles of performance, transparency, competition and accountability in government. Additional information on the San Diego Citizens’ Budget Project can be found at www.sandiegobudget.org.

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