(CNS) -- San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria Wednesday released his final proposed city budget for Fiscal Year 2026, restoring some funding to the San Diego Police Department and the San Diego Humane Society.
The money available to the city has not changed significantly in the past month since the first draft proposal, but Gloria said public input has led him to rearrange some of the city's priorities in the final proposal.
At a news conference Gloria said, "The cuts we were forced to make to balance the budget are not what any of us want, but we've worked within our means to create a responsible, strategic, and balanced spending plan that prioritizes keeping San Diegans safe, fixing our roads and critical infrastructure, and reducing homelessness with a range of interventions -- including building more housing.''
WATCH VIDEO OF MAYOR'S STATEMENT BELOW
The largest adjustment is to restore $773,529 of a $1.7 million reduction to consolidate police patrols in the northern part of the city between the Northern and Northeastern divisions. Gloria's new revisions will have patrol officers continue to be based at Northwestern Division, but with staffing changes that have them reporting to a lieutenant instead of a captain. The proposed budget also restores two vice detective positions that the draft budget had removed. Additional public safety revisions included restoring a community resources officer and bomb squad cross-staffing in the San Diego Fire-Rescue department.
In December, Gloria announced that San Diego was facing a $258 million budget deficit in the next fiscal year ``amid declining growth in property, hotel room and sales taxes,'' a statement from his office read. That deficit then continued to grow because of a decrease in sales-tax revenue, lower-than-anticipated franchise fees from San Diego Gas & Electric and an increase in employee pension costs.
In November's election, voters declined the San Diego Transaction and Use Tax, which would have increased the tax on transactions in the city by 1%, bringing the total sales tax to 8.75%. The current rate of 7.75% leaves the city tied for the fourth-lowest of the state's 482 municipalities and lower than nine of the county's 18 cities, according to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration.
Mayor Gloria will present his final proposed budget to the city council in a public hearing on Monday, may 19. The proposed budget released Wednesday will be turned over to the city council to review and revise, with a vote on the final budget expected by June 10.
(Photo reporting partner 10News)