CARLSBAD BUDGET WOULD ADD PROGRAMS, POSITIONS
Mayor calls numbers in proposal ‘too optimistic’; council will vote June 14
Carlsbad got its first look last week at a nearly $200 million general fund budget that includes money for new programs, additional employees and environmental projects in the fiscal year that begins July 1.
The general fund budget proposed for fiscal 2022-23 anticipates $198.8 million in total revenue, which is a $20 million increase from the $178.8 million in revenue in the budget adopted for fiscal 2021-22. Expenditures anticipated in the year ahead are $182.7 million, compared with $175.9 million in 2021-22.
City Council members agreed last week to have staffers bring the proposed budget back for final approval at a June 14 public meeting, but not everyone was happy with the numbers. Mayor Matt Hall, generally the most fiscally conservative of the five, pushed for less spending in light of rising inflation and the possibility of a recession.
“I would suggest we are overly optimistic on revenues and extremely under on expenditures,” Hall said. “When things go wrong, they go wrong in a big way. This is too optimistic for me at this moment.”
City administrators warned the council last month that expenditures appear to be outpacing revenues in a five-year forecast, and that the budget could see a deficit in a few more years. However, council members rejected a 1 percent sales tax increase proposed for citywide ballot later this year, saying they would rather tighten their belts.
Councilmember Peder Norby expressed a different view, saying Carlsbad has a balanced budget and increasing reserves and has always managed to avoid deficits.
“I think we are doing well,” Norby said. “I do see headwinds, and we need to be cautious.”
Construction costs are “through the roof” in addition to the worrisome inflation, but Carlsbad has adapted to past economic downturns and can do it again, he said.
“If in a year or two we have massive disruptions in the economy, I have faith we can adapt to that,” Norby said.
The budget includes money for a new park ranger program, more lifeguards, and expanded arts and culture activities. There’s funding for new environmental efforts such as phasing out single-use plastics.
typically have higher levels of social interaction, life satisfaction and health than older adults who don’t use a local senior center.
Nationally, NCOA reports there are nearly 10,000 centers serving more than a million seniors. There are currently 28 senior centers in San Diego County, but SDSCF reports that those serve only about 8 percent of the region’s older adults.
Many centers, like the Fourth District Seniors Resource Center in Skyline Hills, are run by volunteers, getting by on very little funding. Executive Director Rosemary Pope, the 76-yearold who volunteers running it, said the money supporting the community’s “seasoned elders” at her center largely comes from renting out event space on the weekends — which completely stopped during the pandemic.
Pope said visiting a senior center regularly makes seniors feel seen, loved and less isolated.
“When we look at people as individuals, and not as groups, we fare better,” Pope said. “When you sit down and talk to them and learn what their past experience, past vocations and what they were doing before they retired, it is so interesting. It’s mind-boggling.”
Through its project to create a vision plan, SDSCF looked at current senior centers in the region — as well as economic and demographic data — to determine how best to support this growing population by improving access to these facilities.
There are no senior centers in Barrio Logan, Clairemont, Eastlake/Otay Mesa, El Cajon or Santee/Lakeside, and of the current facilities in the county, none are nationally accredited through the National Council on Aging.
The SDSCF report details recommendations and construction estimates for building or renovating each senior center. In Barrio Logan, for example, the nonprofit has proposed construction of a new facility, including a commercial kitchen, gym and aquatics center for an estimated cost of $4.2 million.
“This is not a fluff report, it’s really a business plan,” Kelly said. “It’s really getting down to the nitty-gritty of what it costs to build or modernize a senior center and the cost of the programming.”
For each of the current senior centers, SDSCF staff spoke with facility directors and community leaders and made on-site observations of the current staffing, activity offerings and the physical condition of buildings. They then created individual plans and recommendations
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for refurbishment or new construction where needed, each plan being tailored to the particular needs of the individual community.
“Anybody can throw a vision out there, but it’s important to back it up with a framework to at least initiate conversations around it,” said Joe Gavin, SDSCF’s chief programs and community engagement officer.
But where is the $150 million going to come from? A mix of government funding and philanthropic investments, like those that supported the construction and operation costs of youth centers such as the YMCA and Boys and Girls Clubs.
Since its founding in 2017, SDSCF has raised a total of $2.1 million to support its grant program to senior-focused organizations and its own operation costs. Thus far, a commitment to donate $2 million over four years has been made by the Sahm Family Foundation, a nonprofit focused on the arts, child welfare and senior welfare started by Elixir Industries founder Roland Sahm and his wife, Ramona Sahm. SDSCF received the first quarter of that donation this year.
The foundation recently distributed the first of its Empower San Diego Senior Center Grants — totaling just over $163,000 — to four local organizations: the San Diego Workforce Partnership Mature Workers Project, the Ed Brown Senior Center in Rancho Bernardo, the Fallbrook Senior Center Thrift Store Capital Improvements, and the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center Retirement Academy. It has also awarded smaller grants to local organizations to support holiday season programs during the pandemic.
The report released Thursday is part of an ongoing conversation among community leaders and politicians about how to best serve seniors in the region.
Last Tuesday, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted to approve a Golden Opportunity pilot program with Escondido’s Park Avenue Community Center and the Jewish Family Service’s College Avenue Center at Temple Emanu-El. Through the pilot, the county will provide in-person services for a year to help older adults access its resources.
“I think it’s important that the county services come to the seniors rather than having the seniors come to the county facilities,” Supervisor Jim Desmond said during last week’s meeting. “It just makes sense for us to meet them where they already are, in familiar surroundings in the senior centers throughout San Diego County.”