San Diego, California – San Diego’s City Hall is bracing for another round of financial drama, with a jaw-dropping extra $110 million budget gap threatening to spark fresh cuts as early as this week. With last year’s $300 million hole still fresh in the memory, city leaders are scrambling to find solutions – but what will face the axe remains anybody’s guess.
Will library doors close earlier? Will Parks and Rec see the fun times cut short? Could jobs be on the line—or will more paid parking zones and sell-offs of city-owned land come into play? All options appear to be on the table as the deadline for updated council budget priorities looms this Friday, when they must land on the desk of the Office of Independent Budget Analysis.
This financial black cloud arrives just as Balboa Park visitors start paying for parking and residents cough up for city trash collection—unpopular measures rolled out to find short-term cash. Last month, Mayor Todd Gloria fired off a memo to department heads, ordering belt-tightening across the board by hacking away noncritical overtime and scrutinizing contracts for possible slashing or renegotiation…