Nearly a year after he spoke to the La Jolla Town Council about the city of San Diego’s then-projected $258 million budget deficit, city Independent Budget Analyst Charles Modica returned this week to report on a smaller, yet still daunting, budget deficit expected for next fiscal year.
His hour-long presentation at the Town Council’s Feb. 12 meeting covered the timeline for forming the budget and what cuts may be expected.
The independent budget analyst’s office provides a review to city officials once the mayor proposes a budget, which this year is expected in April.
The mayor then announces revisions, the City Council submits a budget to the IBA and the IBA releases final recommendations. The council adopts a final budget in mid-June.
Modica said the city is staring down a projected $110 million budget deficit for the 2026-27 fiscal year, which begins July 1.
He said the unbalanced budget is a product of “multiple decades of consistently underfunding city services,” along with insufficient tactics and remedies for meeting programming demands and putting off general maintenance on infrastructure.
Beyond the budget, steep increases in water and sewer rates also loom, said Jordan More, a principal fiscal and policy analyst for the IBA’s office.
Those issues, as well as one-time pandemic-era funding resources drying up, led to the city implementing a flurry of cuts and new fees, including controversial measures such as paid parking at Balboa Park and decreased library hours.
The library issue was partially resolved locally when the nonprofit Friends of the La Jolla Library stepped in to provide the money necessary to keep the La Jolla/Riford branch open from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays. It had been one of 20 San Diego branches slated to lose both Sunday and Monday hours.
Friends Chairman Chris Hallman previously told the La Jolla Light that the group, which helps the library through fundraising and volunteering, secured enough money from philanthropists to cover all Monday operating costs and that it was expected to last two fiscal cycles.
Whether paid beach parking is implemented to help make up the 2026-27 deficit remains to be seen, though the idea appears to have lost steam among City Council members. On Feb. 5, the number of council members expressing support for paid vehicle entrance to Mission Bay Park and city beaches dwindled from four to one.
City Council President Joe LaCava, whose District 1 includes La Jolla, previously expressed support for a paid parking program at city beaches and bays in an effort to increase revenue.
But Modica and LaCava’s director of communications, Chris Chan, told the Light that LaCava’s updated budget memo excludes paid beach and bay parking.
Modica said at the Town Council meeting that “significant pushback” on revenue-boosting efforts means the city needs to look at cuts to get through the next budget cycle and identify core services that need to be maintained.
“In the next four months … I’m really going to be focused on identifying what those types are,” Modica said. “It will be particularly important for our council to identify critical and core city services … and have input from groups like yours.”
The likely impact of cuts will fall mostly on departments not involved in public safety, Modica said.
“When we talk about closing the deficit … we often hear that we do not want to see cuts to public safety,” he said. “That consequently means the cuts you need to have to get to balanced fall on those non-public safety departments. Because they only represent half the budget, they feel those cuts more severely.”
“It gives me no joy to say the city doesn’t have enough resources to provide the services that it provides right now,” Modica added. “But ultimately, it doesn’t.”
Other Town Council news
Gliderport: A request by area residents Ernie Casco and Bob Kuczewski for support for a letter urging San Diego to reactivate the long-defunct Torrey Pines City Park Advisory Board for La Jolla’s Torrey Pines Gliderport received the Town Council’s backing Feb. 12.
Bob Kuczewski and Ernie Casco, pictured in October, are seeking reinstatement of San Diego’s defunct Torrey Pines City Park Advisory Board. (Noah Lyons)
The gliderport, operated by Air California Adventure Inc., is a paragliding and hang-gliding site at 2800 Torrey Pines Scenic Drive, above Black’s Beach.
The Torrey Pines City Park Advisory Board was established to advise the city Parks and Recreation Board during preparation of a General Development Plan for Torrey Pines City Park, the formal name of the property occupied by the gliderport. The GDP was approved in 2012 and the advisory board was discontinued.
La Jolla Shores Association offers support for gliderport evaluation and oversight
Casco and Kuczewski also requested support for a waiver allowing gliderport pilots to fly without liability insurance, but that was denied by the Town Council, which believes it should be discussed by the advisory board if it is revived.
Next meeting: The La Jolla Town Council next meets at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 12, at the La Jolla Recreation Center, 615 Prospect St. Learn more at lajollatowncouncil.org.
— San Diego Union-Tribune staff writer David Garrick contributed to this report. ♦