Mayor Kevin Faulconer restored $5 million in funding Friday for a potential November special election into the city of San Diego's budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
The $3.6 billion spending plan was approved Monday night by the City Council, after it redirected the election money into other areas.
The council has five business days to consider overriding the mayor's action, which would require six votes, but four of the nine members support holding the election.
I’ve restored election funding. Council can block or let voters create jobs, fix roads, help homeless. Veto message: https://t.co/zF3WEGfp5y
— Kevin Faulconer (@Kevin_Faulconer) June 9, 2017
The mayor took his action just a few days before the City Council is scheduled to vote on whether to actually call a special election for this fall, and whether to place on the ballot his proposal to raise hotel taxes to expand the San Diego Convention Center, fund homeless programs and pay for road repairs.
"Several City Council members, who have publicly supported the convention center expansion, fixing our streets and helping the homeless, are being squeezed by their political backers to kill these ballot measures," Faulconer said.
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"I urge them to vote their conscience, use this restored funding to call a special election and let the public have the final say," the mayor said. "Make no mistake about it, this is one of the most consequential votes this City Council will ever take."
The expansion plan has been on the drawing board for years now, held up by mostly resolved legal challenges.
Tourism industry leaders contend that the biggest trade shows have been bypassing San Diego because they need more space. At the same time, competing cities have been trying to lure the biggest local show, Comic-Con International, out of town.
The mayor's plan would also create funding streams designed to deal with the city's growing homelessness problem and road repairs. Those two areas would receive an estimated $10 million in the first year the tax hike is in effect, according to the mayor's office.
The tax hike necessitates a public vote, and at the budget hearing earlier this week, a majority of the City Council said they preferred the convention center ballot measure, along with one to redevelop the Qualcomm Stadium site in Mission Valley into "Soccer City," be placed on the next general election ballot — November of next year. So while there may not be enough votes to override the mayor's restoration of election funding, there also might not be enough votes to actually schedule the vote for this fall.
Faulconer took the $5 million from the stadium's operations fund. He said that account has enough money for the next two years of debt service payments from previous stadium projects.
The mayor also added $1 million toward resolving the chronic staffing shortage in the uniformed ranks of the San Diego Police Department. In doing so, he lowered the discretionary funding and office budgets of Councilwoman Barbara Bry, and Councilman Chris Ward, who opposed the mayor on the special election issue.
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"The City Council and I are united in supporting our police officers, who maximize their resources every day to keep our neighborhoods safe," Faulconer said. "The council members who made the motion to amend my budget proposal said they wanted more resources for police, so I have reallocated funding from their office budgets for that very purpose."
The mayor noted that he had already reduced his office budget by 4.2 percent for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
