San Diego “Strong Mayor” Todd Gloria recently got a bit stronger.
On Feb. 18, Gloria announced the layoff of Chief Operating Officer Eric Dargan, as well as the elimination of 30 vacant government positions and the consolidation of seven city departments.
Eliminated positions include roles in the sustainability and mobility department, the department of race and equity and from child and youth success.
Gloria will be assuming the responsibilities previously held by the COO, after firing Dargan amid rumors he fell asleep during meetings.
The strong mayor role gives Gloria executive authority over city policies and budget, as well as the ability to appoint and fire city staff.
Why is Gloria making these cuts?
These cuts are part of an ongoing process to reduce the city’s budget deficit of $258 million and balance the budget by June 30.
With these position cuts and consolidations, Gloria just saved the city $5.3 million, reducing the deficit by 2%. The COO salary cut alone saved the city $448,812.
Political science professor Brian Adams says he expects that there will be more cuts to come in order for the city to balance its budget.
Adams, an expert in local government and public policy, says Gloria started with these cuts as a symbolic gesture. Knowing that he will eventually need to make cuts at the lower levels, Adams says Gloria started by eliminating vacant positions and cutting one of the highest-paid administrators as a strategic move.
Is Gloria’s new position as mayor and COO an abuse of power?
The COO position in San Diego city government was conceived after San Diegans voted to implement the strong mayor form of government in 2004.
As a strong mayor, Gloria presents the proposed budget to the city council for review and has the ability to veto any budget items approved by the council.
Jerry Sanders, the first strong mayor, hired a COO, and all mayors since have followed suit, although this was never required by law.
The COO was the most powerful non-elected official in San Diego and oversaw the city’s daily operations while reporting directly to the mayor.
Now that Gloria has assumed this role, department heads report directly to him.
Thad Kousser, a professor of political science and department director at the University of California San Diego, says the mayor will now have more power, but also greater responsibility.
“He will now have to play a more active daily role in the management of San Diego city government, which can increase his influence, but also demand a lot of his time and attention,” Kousser said.
“This is the normal ebb and flow of organization within an executive branch,” Kousser said. “It’s very different from what’s happening at the federal level, where you have a president who’s impinging on congressional power and the power of independent agencies.”
Adams also doesn’t see this as an abuse of power, saying that the mayor mainly just gained “a lot more administrative responsibilities.”
Where does the city’s debt come from?
San Diego’s $258 million in debt has been racking up for years, stemming from underfunded pensions, government projects and all the other costs of running a city.
Adams pointed to the failures of the 101 Ash St. project as one of the sources of city debt.
After leasing a downtown high-rise, the city surpassed planned expenses, disturbed asbestos and put the project on hold pending lawsuits regarding what the city knew about the shady purchase of the building.
The city’s debt isn’t all due to scandals. The city has a lot of infrastructure to maintain and employees to pay, and the revenue just hasn’t kept up.
San Diego City council banked on voters supporting Measure E on last year’s ballot, which would have imposed an added 1% tax to San Diego’s 7.75% sales tax, ranked among the lowest in the state.
This measure would have brought in an estimated $360-400 million a year to the city’s funds.
After the measure narrowly failed, Mayor Gloria is now forced to look for other ways to increase revenue or make cuts.
What’s going to come next?
The mayor’s office still needs to propose a final plan to balance the city’s budget deficit by the end of June.
San Diego has already doubled parking meter rates and is proposing to charge for parking on Sundays and in the evening. The city is also implementing a trash pickup fee for single-family homes to bring in extra revenue.
Despite all these increases in revenue, Adams believes there will still be cuts made, especially to public safety, which is the largest source of expenditure.
“There is no possible way that they can close a hole this big without touching those areas,” Adams said. “There’s got to be cuts to public safety.”
Adams believes the mayor’s office will be rolling out these actions to balance the budget within the coming months.
