S.D. Council OKs $548-Million Budget : $37 Million Over Fiscal ’85 Figure; Under Gann Limit Set in ’78

The San Diego City Council gave tentative approval Tuesday to a $548-million budget for the 1986 fiscal year, which begins Monday.

That sum was $37 million above what the council spent in fiscal 1985 but still $2.4 million below the spending limit set by the 1978 statewide Gann initiative.

“We’re living within all applicable laws. Not only do we have a balanced budget, but we are $2.4 million under the limit,” Mayor Roger Hedgecock said.

Still, the council for the first time exceeded a city-initiated spending limit, Proposition J, by about $2.4 million. After the Gann initiative passed, the city was no longer required by law to abide by Proposition J, but until now the council had done so. (Under Proposition J, the council could not increase general operating expenses beyond a percentage based on the sum of the population increase that year and three-fourths of the inflation rate.)

Council members, who will cast final votes on the budget July 22 or 23, decided to go over the Proposition J limit this year, mainly to allow more money for the Police Department. Police officers have complained that the department is dangerously understaffed.

The council authorized $2.3 million beyond the city manager’s projected police budget of $85.6 million so the city could increase the number of two-officer patrols from about 40 to 71.

With nine officers killed on the job in the last 18 months, San Diego has the highest mortality rate for police officers in the nation. Citing those grim statistics, the Police Officers Assn. this spring waged an emotional campaign to convince the council to add officers.

In another major change, the council budgeted $82 million for capital improvements. That was $11 million more than City Manager Ray Blair had proposed for fiscal 1986, but still $17.2 million below what the city spent on capital improvements in the 1985 fiscal year.

Libby Watson, the city’s financial management director, explained that there had been “a big jump” in capital improvements in 1985, largely because of money available from revenue sharing.

The 1986 budget also contains the following expenditures:

- The Fire Department received $44.6 million, a 4% increase from the 1985 fiscal year. Eleven positions will be added to the department, for a total of 874.

- Because of anticipated population growth, the city’s refuse collection budget was increased to $12.1 million for fiscal 1986, compared to $11.9 million in fiscal 1985.

- The Park and Recreation Department budget was increased by 2.5% to $24.9 million.

- A reserve of $2.9 million was set aside for extension of the San Diego Trolley.

In action on a final “wish list” Tuesday, the council by a 7-2 vote declined to finance a full-time “conservation” position to handle planning and restoration for historic sites.

Assistant Planning Director Mike Stepner told the council that $153 million had been spent on rehabilitating historic buildings since 1982. Hedgecock and Councilman Bill Mitchell tried in vain to convince their colleagues that there is strong community interest in saving historic buildings.

After the hearing, Ron Buckley, a city planner who divides his time between handling historic site work and design review for the Golden Hill and the Gaslamp Quarter districts, said, “The Historic Site Board has been getting short shrift.” (Recently, over the Historic Site Board’s objections, the council voted to allow developers to tear down 50-year-old buildings connected to the Mission Beach Plunge and to gut the old Balboa Theater downtown.)