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By Karen Pearlman
June 18, 2025 (San Diego County) – A little over a week after the San Diego City Council voted 7-2 to continue to fund consistent public access to city-owned and operated lakes and reservoirs, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria wielded his line-item veto power to cut access at some lakes, though Lakes Murray and Miramar will remain accessible daily. The Mayor also vetoed funding for numerous other items, from homeless outreach to brush clearing and stormwater projects to prevent fires and floods.
The Mayor preserved funding for other popular items previously on the chopping box, such as libraries and firepits for beach bonfires.
Lakes, libraries, beach firepits and fees for Balboa Park and Zoo
As part of closing budget gaps in the 2025-26 fiscal year budget, Gloria nixed recreational funding to restore access to the majority of the bodies of water in San Diego -- with the exception of Lake Murray and Lake Miramar.
The city of San Diego is currently looking at a budget deficit of $258 million in the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1.
The shortfall is related to declining revenue from property taxes, transient occupancy tax and sales tax, lower than projected San Diego Gas & Electric franchise fees, and increased expenses, including costs for employee pensions.
Recreational programs being cut from the city-run reservoirs and lakes with the exceptions of Lake Murray and Lake Miramar will save the city $208,000 in the coming fiscal year.
But unless the 2/3 of the city council overrides his vetoes, hours of operation will be reduced at the other lakes, including Lake Hodges, Barrett Reservoir, El Capitan, San Vicente Reservoir, Sutherland Reservoir and Otay Lakes.
A press release from the city said that Gloria’s action preserves hours at Lake Murray and Lake Miramar, “which are among the most heavily used locations, and those he heard the most about from San Diegans.”
Gloria’s line-item veto has been met with frustration from lake-loving community members.
“This is a gut punch to us and the outlining communities of San Diego,” said El Cajon resident Rob Magargal said. “I am at Lake Otay today with 60 boats. This is a Wednesday. Sixty hard-earned paying-money-to-enter citizens. I feel the line-item veto shows the inequity within how these decisions are made. Our hope is the council is still on our side and overrides this line-item veto.”
On Tuesday, the Friends of San Diego Lakes Facebook page posted: “By choosing to pay attention only to these lakes, he is sending a very disappointing message to the diverse community that accesses lakes throughout the region.” The group’s leadership believes that the line-item veto “pits lakes and communities against one another in a short-sighted attempt to fix long-term budget woes” and implored those concerned to voice their disapproval before the budget is passed.
In a statement, the group later said, "The line item veto of specific, highly used, revenue generating lakes was a striking blow to the city’s professed priorities of equity and recreational access. Our coalition continues to be strong partners in asking for the city to identify more stable and more robust funding streams, knowing full well we will bear the costs. Given the uniqueness of this, it’s a terrible demonstration of the actual willingness to identify solutions and one that the coalition hopes will be overridden by the council. Ultimately, the ability for patrons, the county, and other stakeholders to come to the table to identify more funds voluntarily, we cannot be left wondering if the Mayor values all the lakes equally, which is the unfortunate message of the recent veto. We as the city to reconsider this and restore the proposed days immediately”
The coming budget shows the city continuing to fund Monday hours at 16 libraries across the city, fully restoring recreation center hours and access to restrooms at area beaches and Balboa Park, and taking San Diego County up on an offer to fund beach fire pits.
But recreation needs at the other lakes are not the only line-item vetoes Gloria weighed in on.
Some stormwater projects vetoed
While Gloria said he is committed to investing in critical stormwater infrastructure and in the coming year, 18 miles of channels will be cleared, a continency funding request for nearly $760,000 was vetoed.
The veto of some storm water clearance funding comes despite severe flooding last January that led to massive property destruction and lawsuits against the City.
The press release said Gloria believes that the contingency funding “lacked an identified need at this time – and would not result in any new construction of stormwater projects.”
Arts, equity, and homelessness
Gloria vetoed other additional expenditures proposed by the City Council, including $900,000 from the council’s discretionary funds for community projects, programs and services (CPPS); $450,000 from the council’s Arts, Culture and Community Festivals; a $225,000 Chief Operating Officer position and $450,000 for two management positions in the city’s Office of Race and Equity.
Shane Harris, the President of The People's Association of Justice Advocates, is calling for the Council to override the mayor’s line-item veto on several things, including CPPS.
“Many of those funds impact residents directly and nonprofits who assist them especially during a time where it is unclear how much support these same organizations will get from Washington D.C. or Sacramento,” Harris said. “We must ensure council offices have the resources for their respective districts.”
Another $250,000 in funding for homeless outreach was also slashed by the Mayor’s line-item veto.
Brush clearing funds vetoed
Gloria also vetoed $1.1 million in brush management enforcement, which the Mayor’s press release said “neither identified as a majority-supported expenditure modification by the Council nor recommended by the city’s Independent Budget Analyst.
“Multiple City departments collectively spend more than $8.5 million annually performing brush management on city land,” the release shared.
Harris said he also was concerned about that line-item veto, noting that San Diego “should be proactive on fire preparedness especially considering what happened with the L.A. fires (in January 2025, which burned more than 50,000 acres with 30 people killed and more than a dozen missing) and the expected heatwave to hit San Diego this summer.”
Mayor justifies his cuts; Council to weigh override of vetoes
In all, the City Council’s changes added $19.2 million in General Fund expenditures to the mayor’s final proposed budget. Gloria’s line-item veto shrinks these additions by $4.91 million. In all, the revenue for the new sources were adjusted downward by just under $3.55 million.
“As Mayor, I cannot in good conscience allow a budget built on shaky assumptions to move forward—not when we’re facing national economic uncertainty, global instability, and real threats to the federal and state funding we rely on,” Gloria said, as part of his veto announcement. “That’s why, under the authority granted to me by the City Charter, I am using my line-item veto to restore balance to the budget. At the same time, I am accepting several Council additions that align with our shared priorities and that we can afford to support.”
The nine-member Council now has until June 26 to accept or possibly override Gloria’s package of vetoes, with an override requiring a supermajority of six Councilmembers.
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