Measure L, the salary “reform” approved in 2018, must be reversed.
Council members and city officials discuss downtown Sunday parking permits during the council meeting at City Hall on Jan. 27. San Diegans are already paying more through new city-imposed fees and repeated revenue measures, yet residents are told that additional charges and service cuts are unavoidable due to a “decades-old structural budget deficit” plaguing our city.
consequence of deliberate governance choices. City leaders are now scrambling for new revenue to fill a budget hole widened by their own pay policies. The city’s own actuary, Gene Kalwarski, recently warned that “doling out pay raises larger than expected has become a recurring theme and a recurring problem for the pension system’s long-term finances,” driven by “extra salary increases above and beyond assumptions during many of the past seven years.” Pension costs are salary-driven: when pay rises faster than projected, long-term liabilities increase automatically.. The IBA reported that the largest projected general fund cost increases are compensation and defined-benefit pension payments. These personnel-related costs were the primary drivers of projected general fund deficits forecast to approach or exceed $200 million annually. The IBA warned the city that it “ City Hall’s response has been clear. Rather than confronting expenditure priorities, it has repeatedly turned to residents as the revenue source: the trash-fee con job, haphazard parking fees at Balboa Park,, a proposed vacation-rental tax and a “citizens’ measure” sales tax increase backed by a $4 million campaign. Each extracts more from households while leaving embedded cost obligations untouched. The city has prioritized compensation growth, allowing a structural deficit to persist. This reflects governance failure, not a revenue problem. Addressing this failure should begin with repealing or reforming a misguided law that provides the very city leaders responsible for the broken budget with regular and generous raises., approved by voters in November 2018, was promoted as a more ethical way to set elected officials’ salaries. Previously, compensation was set through a public ordinance adopted by the City Council, informed by an independentThose automatic increases are disconnected from city finances, service levels or performance. Judges do not negotiate labor contracts, expand departments or manage municipal deficits. City politicians do. Measure L treats the roles as interchangeable.from the final annual salary earned by predecessor Kevin Faulconer. His retirement and health benefits rose from $23,899 to $92,507, a 287% increase. As oflevels. Collective retirement and health contributions for the council increased from roughly $202,000 in 2019 to more than $601,000 annually, according torequires the City Council to consider residents’ needs, ability to pay and local economic conditions when setting employee compensation; those requirements do not apply to elected officials.The irony is hard to ignore. San Diegans are paying top dollar for elected officials while being told the city cannot afford libraries, infrastructure or basic neighborhood services. Reforming Measure L will not, by itself, solve San Diego’s budget crisis. But it would restore something essential: accountability. Automatic pay escalators for elected officials during a structural deficit are indefensible. No elected official can justify near-doubling compensation while presiding over service erosion, charter disregard and the city’s worst fiscal outlook in decades.Prominent San Diego restaurateur opens his most ambitious venue yetAmid budget crisis, San Diego is foregoing millions in potential revenue from its golf courses, audit findsAfter second trial, jury convicts San Diego County deputy who seriously injured restrained inmateTech exec bets on downtown San Diego with purchase of 2 office towers Daniel Sullivan is back with a new solar company in San Diego. But state officials are wrangling with him.
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