Municipal Pay Cuts Avert San Diego Branch Closures

Municipal Pay Cuts Avert San Diego Branch Closures

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders’s attempt to close a $43-million budget deficit resolved on a positive note April 13 when he announced that there would be no service cuts, layoffs, or branch closures at the public library. This announcement came after community protests resulting from the mayor’s original proposal last November to temporarily shutter seven branches.

“We heard you, Ocean Beach,” Mayor Sanders said at an April 14 press conference outside the branch library, “there will be no library cuts.” Instead, the mayor explained, the FY2010 budget includes a 6% reduction in overall compensation to the city’s approximately 10,500 employees, the online Ocean Beach Rag reported April 15.

Residents of Ocean Beach were roused to protest after the mayor put forth a recommendation last November to close seven branches of the San Diego Public Library, including the Ocean Beach branch, one of the city’s oldest. The mayor also recommended closing 10 recreation centers throughout the city, curtailing police and fire recruitment, removing shoreline fire pits, and ending supervision at skate parks.

Mayor Sanders had written the first budget proposal in an effort to account quickly for the projected shortfall. “He took fast, temporary measures,” mayoral spokesperson Rachael Laing told American Libraries. She noted that the mayor looked at library branches whose closure, he believed, would have the least impact on residents.

But after hearing pushback from the Friends of the San Diego Public Library, representatives from city labor unions, and library users, the mayor negotiated with the unions and reached an agreement that precluded the need to cut library hours or lay off employees. have agreed on a reduction in pay and benefits by 6% overall. The reductions agreed on by the unions and the mayor’s office would be achieved through wage reductions as well as decreasing the portion the city covers of employee health care, retirement, and other employment benefits.

“We heard the message loud and clear,” Laing said. Explaining that the unions came to the table to negotiate because of the public outcries, she nonetheless characterized the Ocean Beach protests as “pretty minor.”

In an April 14 posting, the San Diego Municipal Employees Association informed members that, although the “deal feels absolutely nothing like a victory, it is clearly the best outcome we could have hoped for given the alternatives.”

The newly proposed budget still awaits approval from city council, but Laing said that council members seem supportive. The FY2010 budget will go into effect July 1.

Posted on April 21, 2009. Discuss.