The San Diego City Council sided with Mayor Todd Gloria Monday, chopping funding for the arts, homeless services and other community initiatives as the deadline nears for next year’s tight budget to take effect.
The cuts that the council passed in a 6-3 vote were a scaled-back version of nearly $5 million in funding that Gloria vetoed from the 2025-26 fiscal year budget.
The council compromised to preserve nearly $2 million in funding for aid organizations, lake recreation, the city’s Office of Race and Equity and other community initiatives, but many other services were not spared.
With the changes, the council defied the mayor’s full list of wishes, a week before the budget is slated to go in effect. Monday’s vote though signals that the months-long budget battle between deficit hawk Gloria and the council soon will be coming to a close.
Underserved communities – losses and gains
For months, Gloria and the council have wrestled over a $258 million hole in the city budget. Gloria’s vetoes were the latest in the round of sweeping — yet unpopular — cuts that he’s tried to make to community services, like libraries, to rein in the city’s spending.
But the council has fought back — despite Independent Budget Analyst Charles Modica’s and the mayor’s warnings that the city might not have enough money to sustain the council’s list of must-haves for the entire fiscal year.
Gloria’s vetoes would’ve cut funding for some of the city’s most underserved communities. But in a major win for nonprofits, the council saved $900,000 in funding for aid organizations that serve various groups from the LGBTQ+ community to seniors — which Gloria last week labeled as “discretionary Council slush funds.”
“From the beginning of this budget process, we knew the legal obligation was to balance the budget,” Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera said in a statement after the vote. “But we also recognized a deeper moral responsibility: to meet the needs of our communities.”
“Rather than slashing and burning, this strong Council chose to plant seeds fora more abundant, equitable future.”
Members of the public blasted Mayor Todd Gloria’s funding vetoes for services ranging from environmental safety to homeless outreach before the council. Many wielded signs reading “Shame on Todd” and “Fund San Diego.” (Photo by Madeline Nguyen/Times of San Diego)Many nonprofits have had to rely on local support as federal funding slashes have forced some to stop services.
“As the federal administration continues to attack and threaten our trans and nonbinary communities, we urge you to be bold leaders who fearlessly continue to invest in our communities,” Karina Piu from The San Diego LGBT Community Center told the council.
Elo-Rivera and councilmembers Kent Lee, Henry Foster III and Joe LaCava have emerged as the primary crusaders against Gloria’s cuts. But their push for the council to strike down all of Gloria’s vetoes didn’t sway their five colleagues.
In a compromise proposed by Foster, the council sided with the mayor in axing $250,000 in support for homeless outreach and $450,000 in arts funding for nonprofit events, such as the Kinfolk Juneteenth Festival.
“These cuts will impact Black and brown and vulnerable community members the most,” Claire Snyder, a director at the San-Diego based advocacy group Youth Will, told the council.
Environmental-safety efforts like stormwater infrastructure and wildfire prevention also were saved from complete elimination, but still lost $1.3 million in funding.
The city’s Office of Race and Equity also narrowly escaped elimination. The office, created by Gloria in 2020 to dismantle city measures “that perpetuate inequity and systemic racism,” had faced dissolution.
Mayor’s spending slammed
The council’s latest round of reversals set the stage for future showdowns over the budget. The battle was on full display on Monday as councilmembers and the mayor traded barbs.
“You are endorsing a level of risk that I cannot support, that I will not support,” Gloria told the council ahead of its vote. “That budget will not carry my signature if the council’s projected revenues fall short.”
Gloria warned after the vote that if the council’s new initiatives to generate money don’t meet expectations, members will be “responsible” for the “fallout,” which could include government layoffs and complete library closures.
Modica has warned that the council’s revenue hopes might be lofty.
Critics of Gloria’s funding vetoes objected to the mayor’s spending throughout his administration. A city audit found last year that Gloria added $155 million to the city budget for contracted employees without the council’s required approval. (Photo by Madeline Nguyen/Times of San Diego)Councilmembers and the public blasted Gloria as he sat in on the council’s vote. Some accused him of improper spending, while others took issue with funding increases to law enforcement and the controversial Smart Streetlights.
Ahead of the vote, the four councilmembers who opposed all of the mayor’s vetoes united to publicly blast Gloria for the $155 million in city funds that he spent throughout his administration without the council’s required pre-approval.
“That has been the practice of this administration, the practice of this mayor, and it’s time for that to end,” Foster said.
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