San Diego finalized a compromise budget on Monday that restores some funding for brush management, flood prevention and recreation programs at city reservoirs that Mayor Todd Gloria tried to cut last week.
A supermajority of the City Council — six of the council’s nine votes — partially overrode a series of line-item vetoes Gloria issued last week based on concerns that the council was using shaky revenue assumptions.
The override also restored $900,000 in discretionary funds that council members dole out to community groups and $450,000 for efforts to boost racial equity across the city.
The compromise brings to an end San Diego’s most tumultuous budget season in at least a decade — just eight days before the new fiscal year begins July 1.
The city closed a roughly $350 million deficit in its $2.2 billion budget with more than $100 million in cuts and many new sources of revenue, such as higher fees for parking, a new trash fee for single-family homes and a higher hotel tax rate.
Councilmember Raul Campillo, who cast one of the two crucial votes in favor of the compromise along with Councilmember Marni von Wilpert, said the final budget was the right middle ground.
A four-member alliance voted Monday to fully override all of the spending Gloria tried to eliminate last week with the line-item veto, a controversial and rarely used tool created in 2006 when San Diego switched to a “strong mayor” form of government.
But six votes are needed to override a mayoral veto, so the foursome — Councilmembers Henry Foster, Sean Elo-Rivera, Joe LaCava and Kent Lee — needed to make some concessions to woo Campillo and von Wilpert.
Those included allowing some mayoral vetoes to stand, including the mayor eliminating $250,000 for a homeless outreach team and $225,000 that would have revived the city’s chief operating officer position.
“The mayor’s veto goes beyond what I think would be the proper compromise, but I think a full override ignores key warnings that ought to be heeded,” said Campillo, explaining why he sought compromise.
Councilmembers Stephen Whitburn, Jennifer Campbell and Vivian Moreno voted against both the full veto override and the final compromise budget that was adopted 6-3.
Another key move that swayed Campillo and von Wilpert was eliminating $3 million in new revenue from digital billboards that was included in a previous version of the budget.
“I don’t think there’s any reasonable or prudent or responsible way to really expect that $3 million to come in,” said Campillo, describing the process of allowing the first digital billboards in the city as complex and time-consuming.
The mayor, who said he will symbolically refuse to sign the final budget, warned Monday night that the city could be facing emergency cuts in coming months.
“While the council has now chosen to partially override certain vetoes, I remain concerned that these actions could still weaken our ability to stay on stable financial footing,” Gloria said in a news release just after the budget vote. “If their assumptions don’t hold, they’ll be responsible for the fallout: midyear cuts, layoffs, facility closures, brownouts and broken promises to the communities we all serve.”
Gloria expressed appreciation that some of his vetoes were honored.
“Let’s be clear: A full override would have doubled down on unrealistic assumptions, unsustainable spending, and decisions that put our city’s future at risk,” he said.
Council members harshly criticized the mayor for calling the budget they approved June 10 as irresponsible.
“The mayor has deemed our efforts to fight for what is right for our communities to be tone deaf, irresponsible, contradictory to our priorities and simply not feasible,” Foster said.
Council members also criticized Gloria for trying to take credit away from the council for restoring library and recreation center hours.
The council voted June 10 to restore all recreation center hours and full Monday hours at 16 of the city’s 37 branch libraries, while also reversing plans to remove beach fire rings and close many public restrooms in beaches and parks.
The mayor chose last week not to veto those restorations.
But he did veto plans to restore recreational activities at all nine city reservoirs, proposing the funding be limited to just Lake Murray and Lake Miramar. On Monday, the council restored funding for all nine reservoirs.
The council on Monday also partially reversed Gloria’s veto of $1.1 million for wildfire prevention brush management, providing $336,000 to add two positions.
The mayor defended himself against criticism that he isn’t prioritizing brush management, somewhat downplaying the importance of the positions he vetoed.
“This is not actual clearance of dangerous conditions in canyons and open spaces,” he said. “These are more office space workers who would send written notices to private property owners.”
The final budget includes significant upper management cuts Gloria tried to reverse. They include two deputy chief operating officer jobs budgeted at $400,000 each in total pay.
Council members who supported the June 10 budget defended it Monday.
“I do believe at the end of the day that our recommendations were ultimately reasonable,” Lee said.
But Charles Modica, the city’s independent budget analyst, said he considers several elements of the final compromise budget potentially too optimistic.
He said the most questionable are projections that overtime in the city’s police and fire departments can be reduced by $21 million compared to the ongoing fiscal year, and that the city will generate nearly $15 million for adding paid parking to Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo.
He also reiterated his concerns about a potential economic downturn, stressing that San Diego is unusually reliant on tourism for city revenue and that tourism looks iffy as some Trump administration policies make the U.S. a less popular destination for travelers.
The 16 library branches slated for full Monday service under the budget approved June 10 are Allied Gardens, downtown, Carmel Valley, Logan Heights, Oak Park, City Heights, Rolando, Linda Vista, Mira Mesa, Point Loma, Rancho Bernardo, San Ysidro, Skyline, Valencia Park, North Park and University Heights.
Originally Published: June 23, 2025 at 7:20 PM PDT