Re “San Diego would further roll back efforts to keep city clean, orderly in mayor’s proposed budget” (May 12): So budget cuts will now affect keeping our streets clean, the Union-Tribune reported. Those streets also need $248 million in repairs. Eliminating trash fee revenue projected at $140 million per year will “blow a hole” in the budget. Funding all without raising taxes would cost about $430 million.
The U-T also reported the city’s additional contribution to employee pensions will rise to $563 million. This is an additional payment made every year to fund higher pensions. Proposition B fixed that problem in 2012 but was overturned by the courts. The numbers say it’s not lack of trash fees blowing a hole in our budget, it’s funding plush retirements for city employees creating the need for taxes and fees.
Passing a revised version of Proposition B would be hard, but would be a real, permanent solution. Isn’t the city supposed to prioritize providing residents with services, not employees with increasingly lavish retirement benefits?
— Todd Maddison, Oceanside