N. County Campus for SDSU Spared in State Budget Cuts

Funds to buy land for San Diego State University’s long-sought North County satellite campus were spared Tuesday when Gov. George Deukmejian, before signing the new state budget, slashed $663 million from the spending plan the Legislature sent him a week ago.

Deukmejian, using his line-item veto to finalize the state budget for the 1986-1987 fiscal year, which began July 1, also left money to construct a building for UC San Diego’s new Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies.

But the governor cut funding for several San Diego parks projects, including $1.2 million for several Spring Valley parks, $300,000 for the Belmont Park roller coaster rehabilitation and $200,000 for renovation of an administration building in Balboa Park.

Funding Source Cited

They were among 26 projects statewide the governor eliminated because, he said, he did not believe they should be funded by revenues from state tidelands oil leases. He said local governments should fund the projects out of their share of a bond issue for parks, approved by voters in 1986.

Assemblyman Steve Peace (D-Chula Vista), who had fought for the park funds, said he expected the money to be cut after the Legislature failed to agree on a budget by June 30. The stalemate forced Deukmejian to cut an extra $400 million from the budget and add that amount to a $700 million tax rebate he had already proposed.

“These cuts were inevitable once we didn’t arrive at a compromise,” Peace said. “I can’t be too critical of the governor. Those monies would have stood up if we had arrived at a compromise on the budget, and that didn’t happen.

“It’s just one of those things,” Peace said. “You get eclipsed by a bigger issue and there’s not too much you can do about it.”

County Supervisor George Bailey said the Spring Valley funds would have gone toward developing several parks in his district that are already owned by the county. But, like Peace, Bailey took Deukmejian’s decision without much consternation.

“He got the whole barrel of pork while he was at it,” Bailey said, referring to the long list of projects cut by the governor. “If he had just picked out Spring Valley, it would have been different. But he got them all, so I don’t feel so bad.”

Also cut were funds for the Belmont Park roller coaster, which would have been restored through work coordinated by the Save The Coaster committee, and money for an administration building at Balboa Park, which the city is hoping to renovate to provide more space for the Museum of Man.

Universities’ Priorities

While Deukmejian was cutting the park funds, however, he left millions in the budget for the highest priorities of SDSU and UCSD, San Diego’s two major public universities.

For its planned expansion into San Marcos, SDSU will receive a share of $19 million allocated for state university satellite campuses in North County and Ventura. The budget also includes $220,000 for planning the North County campus.

Another $4 million is earmarked for several construction projects on SDSU’s main campus, including rehabilitation of the women’s gymnasium, plans for a new student services building, renovation of the chemistry-geology building and improvements in the life sciences building.

UCSD will receive a large share of the money allocated for new construction in the University of California system, including $7.8 million for a building to house the newly created School of International Relations and Pacific Studies.

The project, expected to be completed by July, 1989, is to include a library, classrooms, and faculty and administration offices.

UCSD also will get $5 million for engineering equipment and for plans to build an addition to the central library and to renovate the computer science building and Urey Hall.

UCSD’s medical center in Hillcrest will receive $5.2 million toward completion and modernization of the hospital’s in-patient tower.