City Budget Proposal Omits Funding Details
San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders' (R) $3 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2006-2007 does not fully account for proposals to fund retiree health care or programs currently funded by the tobacco industry settlement, according to an independent budget analyst, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
Sanders' proposal includes $21 million to fund retiree health care costs in the coming fiscal year.
However, budget analyst Andrea Tevlin said that she found plans for just $17.2 million of that proposed funding and that she could not find a promised $5 million reserve for future health care costs included in the proposal. According to Tevlin's report, two of Sanders' recommendations for funding retiree health benefits are lacking or missing from the budget.
In addition, while the proposed budget acknowledges the loss of tobacco settlement funds, the plan does not include alternative funding sources for programs that use money from the settlement.
Sanders last week in a memo to City Council members said he would eliminate a provision of the plan to sell $374 million in bonds for the pension system and would address omissions in the proposal.
Tevlin will issue a final budget analysis report on May 19 (Vigil/Gustafson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4/29).