San Diego City Council OKs compromise spending plan, capping a contentious budget season

Weeks of debate and negotiation culminated Tuesday with the San Diego City Council adopting a compromise budget that includes last-minute moves to boost flood prevention and partially restore hours at libraries and rec centers.

The final budget pays for some new expenditures by pairing up police officers in patrol cars more frequently versus having them patrol alone - a change opposed by the city's police chief.

Other late additions include money for an engineering team that analyzes bike lanes, a bridge in western Mission Valley and two police sergeants - one focused on graffiti and another on registering sex offenders.

The council, which debated the final budget during a contentious public hearing that lasted more than five hours, also came within one vote of eliminating a city contract for automated license plate readers.

The $2 million in savings would have allowed full reversal of Mayor Todd Gloria's proposed cuts to hours at nine libraries and 24 recreation centers. A full reversal would have cost $3 million, but the final budget includes only $900,000.

In the final budget, four library branches would have their Saturday hours cut in half: La Jolla, Point Loma, downtown and Rancho Bernardo. Two other branches would lose their Monday hours: University Heights and Allied Gardens.

For recreation centers, weekly hours will be cut to 40 at La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Cabrillo, North Clairemont, Ocean Beach, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Hilltop, Tierrasanta, Scripps Ranch, Mira Mesa, Rancho Bernardo, Allied Gardens, San Carlos and Serra Mesa.

The four council members in favor of canceling the contract for license plate readers were Kent Lee, Henry Foster, Vivian Moreno and Sean Elo-Rivera.

They said license plate readers do more harm than good by putting residents under surveillance and providing data that could potentially be used for immigration enforcement.

After the proposal was rejected, Elo-Rivera called it a mistake.

"We're leaving $2 million in resources on the table that could be opening more rec centers, opening more libraries and opening more parks," Elo-Rivera said. "I think that's a shame, and I don't think we're safer for it."

Councilmember Marni von Wilpert said license plate readers help get criminals caught and make the city safer.

"We can go back to the old way of policing if we want, but there will be consequences," she said.

Von Wilpert was joined in opposition to canceling the contract by Stephen Whitburn, Raul Campillo, Jennifer Campbell and Joe LaCava.

The issue also divided the speakers who attended Tuesday's hearing.

Larry Webb, leader of a resident group called the Coastal Coalition, said license plate readers are crucial to the city's understaffed Police Department.

"Eliminating a proven force multiplier will only worsen the challenges," he said.

Khalid Alexander said the council's choice was between supporting police with the readers or supporting residents with the kind of crime prevention that comes from better neighborhood services.

"We request you support the people who are begging you to support programs that prevent crime and that you defund the police," he said.

The mayor didn't announce Tuesday night whether he would sign the budget or possibly use his line-item veto power to reverse some of the last-minute changes. An announcement was expected Wednesday.

Another contentious issue was making officers share patrol cars to reduce gas and vehicle costs.

Councilmember Henry Foster praised the move, despite concerns raised by the city's independent budget analyst that it could raise costs for overtime and slow response times.

"Officers don't show up by themselves," said Foster, contending that it makes sense for officers to travel together to incidents serious enough that multiple officers respond.

Police Chief Scott Wahl said he would grudgingly figure out how to implement the change, which the labor union representing city police officers has supported.

"We'll do our best to try to make it work," Wahl said. "If it was an idea that I thought was a good one, I would have proposed it."

Deputy City Attorney Leslie Fitzgerald said it was unclear whether Wahl would be required to actually implement the change.

"Although the city charter gives the council the authority to adopt the budget and make cuts, the charter also gives the police chief the power and authority to operate and control the Police Department," she said.

Other last-minute additions included $750,000 for a program that helps small businesses, $900,000 to help council offices fund community events and $200,000 to restore a position devoted to promoting San Diego as a setting for movies and TV.

The final budget includes $2 million to clear flood channels, responding to a request from Fire Chief Robert Logan.

The council also restored funding for the Office of Child and Youth Success, expanded a wellness program for city lifeguards and funded 24-hour security for a storage site on 20th Street for homeless people.

The council showed some spending restraint Tuesday when it chose to place $1.7 million in excess cash from the ongoing fiscal year into the city's relative sparse reserve fund.

It's the first time the city has contributed to the reserve fund since 2023. The fund will now rise from $207 million to $209 million - about $80 million below where the independent budget analyst says it should be.

The council's vote marks the climax of one of the most controversial budget seasons in many years, with officials trying to close a $146 million gap just one year after making unpopular cuts to close a $250 million deficit.

Arts funding had been expected to be the most controversial issue during final budget negotiations, but proposed cuts of $11.8 million were mostly reversed Friday with a deal redirecting $6 million in convention center expansion funding to arts and a $3 million philanthropic donation.

Other controversial issues during budget season - such as proposals to wipe out the popular December Nights holiday festival and cut neighborhood crime prevention programs - got reversed by the mayor last month.

The final budget includes layoffs, but the chaos of so many last-minute decisions prevented city officials from providing an exact number Tuesday evening. Many employees will also be forced to take unpaid furloughs.

An employee whose position is eliminated in the final budget told the council Tuesday that such cuts come with consequences.

"I'm not here to save my job," said Marc Frederick, a program manager focused on city real estate. "Based on my experience, the quality, quantity and efficiency of these transactions will go down."

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 9:04 PM.