Mayor calls for axing 672 City of San Diego jobs

By: JOE BRITTON - North County Times wire services | Monday, April 9, 2007 7:26 PM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO - The proposed $2.88 billion spending plan for the coming fiscal year San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders will deliver to the City Council Friday seeks the elimination of 672 city positions, but maintains current service levels, it was announced Monday.

The council has until June 30 to approve the mayor's budget for fiscal year 2008, which begins July 1. A series of public hearings on the spending plan will be held over the next two months.

The budget includes about $1.1 billion for San Diego's general fund, some $83 million more than the current fiscal year. The general fund covers most of the city's services, such as administrative, parks, libraries, street maintenance and public safety.

Sanders proposed the elimination of 672 positions in the coming fiscal year to help close an $87.4 million spending shortfall. More than half of those jobs, 368, are already vacant.

Positions will be eliminated "across the gamut," Sanders said, but public safety jobs -- such as police, firefighters and lifeguards -- will be excluded.

Despite the cuts, Sanders pledged to maintain current service levels for municipal parks, libraries and arts and culture programs.

Services will be preserved through greater efficiency, he said.

"We have chosen to be as effective as we can to provide the same level of service," the mayor said.

The mayor held a news conference outside an equipment maintenance office at the Chollas Operations Yard, which was recently part of a reorganization to streamline how the city's fleet of vehicles are kept up.

City vehicles, which range from fire trucks to street sweepers, were previously serviced at different facilities, he said. Consolidating the work into a single area will save the city about $2.5 million annually.

"Our goal is to streamline so that we can save money and improve efficiencies," Sanders said. "The result is there will now be one fleet service department that saves a considerable amount of money each year while improving service."

About $571 million will be spent on police and fire during fiscal year 2008. That's about 9 percent more than the current year.

The San Diego Police Department is slated to get $390 million, compared to $360 million during the current fiscal year.

The mayor declined to say whether the extra money will be used to give San Diego's police officers a raise.

A recent memo suggested that police are slated to get a 6 percent pay hike next fiscal year, which would cost the city about $18 million.

The city's police are among the lowest paid in the region, according to a recent report. The department is down about 200 sworn officers.

Sanders proposed that the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department get about $181 million in fiscal year 2008, compared to $170 million this year.

The mayor' budget also proposed $266 million in funding for seven long- term obligations, including:

-- $165 million toward the pension system debt;

-- $38 million for street, storm drain and facility maintenance;

-- $25 million to fund a trust for retiree health care liabilities;

-- $18 million for storm water pollution prevention;

-- $10 million to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act;

-- $5 million for the general fund reserves; and

-- $5 million for a reserve to cover public liability claims.

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