Mayor Todd Gloria announced a series of budget cuts Tuesday "designed to generate cost savings and minimize service-level reductions," according to his office.
Gloria said 31 city jobs were eliminated, including that of Chief Operating Officer Eric Dargan. All those positions were vacant except for COO.
Gloria wouldn’t comment on Dargan’s job performance, reiterating that laying off the COO was a financial decision.
Gloria will assume the role of city manager, with the city’s executive team reporting directly to him.
“The measures I am enacting today will significantly cut costs, enhance efficiency and reflect a full implementation of the Strong Mayor form of government,” Gloria said in a news release. “The more than $5 million dollars saved will help preserve services for San Diegans — keeping officers on patrol and all of our fire stations in service and fully staffed, as well as enabling us to continue our progress in fixing the roads and getting the homeless off the street.”
Several departments will also be consolidated:
- The Office of the Mayor and the Office of the Chief Operating Officer will merge and will include within it the Department of Government Affairs and the Office of Boards and Commissions
- Department of Race and Equity will now be transferred to the Department of Human Resources
- The Office of Child and Youth Success will move to the Youth and Family Services Division in the Library Department
- The Department of Cultural Affairs will transfer into a division of the Economic Development Department
- The Sustainability and Mobility Department will transfer their work to the following departments: City Planning, Transportation, General Services, and Engineering and Capital Projects
The city’s budget deficit is $258 million but Gloria noted this could change between now and June when the budget is finalized.
Gloria's announcement comes as the city faces a significant budget deficit "following the narrow failure of Measure E — and after months of careful review and consideration of potential reductions and consolidations," officials said.
“If Measure E had passed, we’d be in a very different position today,” Gloria said at a press conference Tuesday.
