San Diego City Council Budget Review Committee Meeting - May 9, 2016
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San Diego City Council Budget Review Committee Meeting - May 9, 2016
The San Diego City Council's Budget Review Committee, chaired by Councilmember Todd Gloria, convened on May 9, 2016, to review the proposed Fiscal Year 2017 budget for multiple city departments. The meeting featured presentations from the Neighborhood Services Branch, Library Department, Park and Recreation Department, and the Commission for Arts and Culture, followed by extensive public testimony. Council members discussed funding priorities, including independent counsel for the Citizens Review Board, library programming and materials, park maintenance and senior centers, and full funding of the Penny for the Arts blueprint.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Non-Agenda Public Comment: Martha Welch criticized the budget for lacking detail compared to previous years, alleging the city is hiding information.
- Library: Jay Hill (Friends of the Library) thanked the mayor but requested increased funding for youth services librarians, programming, and materials. Phyllis Kessler and Paul Ferris urged repainting the University Heights Library for its 50th anniversary.
- Park & Recreation: Over 60 speakers addressed topics including the Bay Terrace Senior Center (seniors requesting a dedicated center), Balboa Park maintenance (representatives from Friends of Balboa Park, Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, etc., requesting more maintenance staff), Children's Park safety concerns, and expansions for City Heights parks.
- Arts & Culture: Numerous speakers from arts organizations (San Diego Symphony, La Jolla Playhouse, Moxie Theatre, New Americans Museum, etc.) urged the city to fully fund the Penny for the Arts blueprint to its 9.5% of TOT target, citing economic and educational benefits. Students from Memorial Academy sang to advocate for arts funding.
Discussion Items
- Neighborhood Services: Deputy COO David Graham presented the budget, including a request for an administrative aide for the Citizens Review Board (CRB). IBA noted councilmemoranda requesting independent counsel for the CRB (cost estimated $10,000–$25,000/year). Council members expressed strong support for including independent counsel in the May revise, citing public trust.
- Library Department: Director Misty Jones outlined a $51 million budget with added staff for after-school homework programs and a new teen lab at Malcolm X Library. IBA noted that only the homework program is funded by the general fund; other programming relies on grants and donations. Council members Leitner, Alvarez, and others advocated for a $500,000 programming budget, full-time youth services librarians at every branch (cost ~$800,000), and increasing the library's share of the general fund to 4% (approximately $2 million). Chair Gloria secured a commitment from Public Works to paint the University Heights Library before October 2016.
- Park and Recreation: Director Herman Parker presented a $2.1 million increase in general fund and new positions for joint-use parks, expanded recreation center hours, and playground repairs. IBA noted requests for Balboa Park maintenance staff and expanded pool hours not in the proposed budget. Council members discussed funding for Bay Terrace Senior Center, Children's Park improvements, Balboa Park weekend supervisory staff, and Mission Bay restroom availability. Chair Gloria requested a cost estimate for year-round restrooms at Mission Bay.
- Commission for Arts and Culture: Executive Director Dana Springs presented a $13.9 million budget (6.44% of TOT), recommending allocations to 86 organizations. The Penny for the Arts blueprint calls for 9.52% ($20.5 million), leaving a $6.7 million shortfall. IBA noted that funding has not met the blueprint since 2012. Council members Leitner, Alvarez, and Zapf expressed support for increasing funding, possibly to 7% of TOT ($15 million). Financial staff explained that TOT is also used for convention center bond payments ($13M/year) and Petco Park debt ($10.8M/year), limiting available funds.
Key Outcomes
- Citizens Review Board: Consensus among council members to include funding for independent counsel in the May budget revision, with an estimated annual cost of $10,000–$25,000.
- Library: A commitment was made to paint the University Heights Library exterior before its October 2016 anniversary. Council members broadly supported adding $2 million to move the library's general fund share to 4% and fund full-time youth librarians and programming.
- Parks: Councilmember Cole requested a CIP be established for the Bay Terrace Senior Center and cost estimates before the May revise. Councilmember Gloria noted ongoing work with Civic San Diego to improve Children's Park. Several members supported additional maintenance staff for Balboa Park and Mission Bay restroom services.
- Arts & Culture: Council members signaled intent to increase TOT allocation for arts and culture, though no specific amount was agreed upon. The committee directed staff to provide breakout details on TOT administration costs.
- The meeting recessed at noon and was scheduled to resume at 2:00 PM to cover Development Services, Planning, and Economic Development.
Meeting Transcript
All right, good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to the budget review committee of the San Diego City Council. We now have a quorum present consisting of Council members Leitner, Zaf Cole, Kate Sherman, and myself. This is about an item not on today's agenda. And I have one request at this time. And also it's on committee, not uh commandy. It's I saw as different. I don't think it's right because I I'm not surprising because you have all these fancy peas. And also another one. What's going on in this city? You know you're hiding stuff uh right now because I also look at the budget right now is like performance or something because it's not the last year and detail. It's five pairs right now. It's not it's not like the last year because you have detail, but not this year. It doesn't look the same as last year because last year you had all these uh uh very detailed maybe you have it, but not the public can't see that. Are you hiding something? Because the public can't see what you're doing because all these budgets don't have just very general five year plan. It's not last year it was very detailed. You get the budget, it has every spending, all the uh a budget, everything, but not this year, it's very different. And I don't think it's right because you is it it's a performance this year or something because it didn't look doesn't look like this because you're not doing uh the same as last year because the budget uh looks very different to me. And last year you had budgets like you know, everything like this, and I found all those mistakes last year. And I uh this year it's very different because you don't have the detail, everything you're doing. 17 minutes. Well, you're repeating yourself, so I was just I got the point. Okay. Thank you, Ms. Welch. Uh any I have no other requests to speak under non-agenda public comments, so we'll go to members of the committee. Any comment from members of the committee? I I might just share uh you know uh obviously chairing the meeting. My responsibility is to get us through this in the most efficient way possible. Looking at the audience and the slips that we've received, it's gonna be difficult to do that this morning, but I want to respect everyone's time who uh who came down to give their thoughts on the budget. So right now, uh if I would ask anyone who has a speaker slip who wish to speak on an item in this morning's agenda, please turn it in now. Don't hold on to it. It allowed me to try and give you as much time as possible. If I get a windfall of slips toward the end, we're gonna start cutting people to a really small amount of time. So please submit the slips now. I also want to warn city staff that based upon the slips that we have so far. I think it's all very likely or possible that development services, planning department, or economic development could be trailed to this afternoon in order to take the the public comment on uh the on the library, park and recreation, and commission on arts and culture. So just to try and manage everyone's time and be respectful of everyone's time, that's my attempt. Right now, based on the the pace we're getting to, I think everyone's gonna get a minute to address the council through public comment. So you may want to plan accordingly, but if I if they if we don't get too many more slips, we might be able to give you a little more than that. So that's just trying to orchestrate this morning and again make sure that we give you as much time as possible to share your thoughts with the city council. That's exactly why we have this hearing. So uh any IBA, mayoral or city clerk comment? Seeing none. All right, then we'll jump right into our first presentation of the morning, which is an overview from our deputy chief operating officer for neighborhood services. Mr. Graham, welcome, sir. How much time do you need for your presentation? Uh should be less than five minutes.
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