Community Corner

City Ended Fiscal Year with $43.6M Surplus

A new financial report shows a larger-than-expected surplus for the recent fiscal year.

The city of San Diego ended the most recent fiscal year with a $43.6 million surplus, following years of battling deficits, but future budgets are clouded by uncertainties, city financial staff reported Wednesday.

The city brought in $111 million more revenue in the fiscal year that ended June 30 than the previous year, according to a presentation to the City Council's Budget Committee on as-yet unaudited results.

The total included a $27 million settlement with San Diego Gas & Electric involving the 2007 wildfires and $24.7 million in additional property tax revenue that resulted from the dissolving of redevelopment agencies.

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A comprehensive roundup of audited figures should be delivered to the council in a timely manner unlike past fiscal years, in which final numbers were sometimes delayed for years, Comptroller Ken Whitfield said.

"It's good news in general," committee Chairman Todd Gloria said.

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Jay Goldstone, the city's chief operating officer, added several cautionary notes about the future.

He said the annual contribution to the San Diego City Employees Retirement System could jump between $5 million and $25 million next year because the agency experienced low investment returns.

Also, the full impact of implementing the voter-passed pension reform initiative is unknown, property values remain flat and the recovery of the economy as a whole remains "soft," he said.

The mayor's office is set to bring a $25 million bond proposal to the City Council on Oct. 10 that would help fund major capital projects at libraries in Mission Hills, San Ysidro and the Skyline area, construction of a fire station in Mission Valley, repair of the seawall at Mission Beach and road improvements, Goldstone said.

-City News Service


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