IN A WIN FOR PUBLIC ACCESS, CITY COUNCIL VOTES TO KEEP LAKE MURRAY OPEN DAILY

By Karen Pearlman

Photo by Karen Pearlman: wild birds at the Lake Murray reservoir

June 11, 2025 (San Diego) – The future of continued daily access to Lake Murray is looking a little brighter today.

With a 7-2 vote, the San Diego City Council on Tuesday approved a 2025-26 budget that preserves activities at Lake Murray and other city-operated reservoirs and lakes, avoiding many previously threatened cuts to hours and days of operation.

The action came after Friends of San Diego Lakes submitted a petition with more than 8,500 signatures of residents opposed to a proposal to close the popular lake on weekdays.

There will also be no cuts to recreation center hours or park restrooms, and while city libraries will remain closed on Sundays, the budget reversed proposed Monday closures for 16 branches.

It remains to be seen whether Mayor Todd Gloria will sign or veto the revised budget. 

The city’s finalized budget is an increase of $48.4 million in expenditures from the draft budget approved in April, which Mayor Todd Gloria said needed to address a projected $258 million deficit.

The budget for the upcoming fiscal year is $6.09 billion and still must be signed off by Gloria within the next five days. The mayor may veto some of the Council’s changes before the fiscal year starts on July 1.

Mayor Gloria's office issued this statement after Tuesday's vote:  "Last month, Mayor Gloria presented the City Council with a proposed budget that was responsible, strategic, and balanced. Today, the Council added tens of millions of dollars in new spending and changes, many of which raised concerns from both the Independent Budget Analyst and the City Attorney’s Office. “Over the next several days, the Mayor and his team will closely review the Council’s amendments to ensure the final budget meets the level of fiscal responsibility this moment demands, especially given the current economic uncertainty and global instability. “As always, San Diegans can count on the Mayor to sign a budget that is balanced, fiscally sound, and workable for our city.”

 The city’s draft budget shared in April called for wide cuts across a swath of city departments and facilities, including the city’s Public Utilities Department, which oversees the reservoirs and lakes.

The preliminary budget also outlined closures of all city libraries on Sundays and Mondays and a reduction of hours for city recreation centers from 60 hours a week to 40 hours a week. Select public restrooms in city parks were also to be closed seasonally.

City Councilmember Raul Campillo, whose District 7 includes Lake Murray called the full restoration of the reservoir’s access “a win for the thousands of San Diegans who made their voices heard loud and clear: we would not stand for this.”

Friends of the San Diego Lakes, a group that formed to protect and preserve public access to Lake Murray, Miramar Lake, Otay Lakes, Lake Hodges El Capitan Reservoir, Barrett Lake,  San Vicente and Lake Sutherland has been vocal for months to make sure the voices of those who frequent the lakes were heard.

The Friends group and individuals from across the county delivered public testimony at Budget Review Committee meetings and started an online petition that drew more than 8,000 signatures to save the lakes.

Campillo called the budget changes a “victory for District 7 and for lake users across the city.”

Gloria said previously that after voters last November did not pass Measure E, which would have increased the local sales tax by 1%, the City of San Diego had to adjust its budget “to reflect that outcome.”

The budget shortfall in the city has been projected to be a $1 billion deficit over the next five years.

Measure E aimed to raise the city’s sales tax from 7.75% to 8.75%. (East County cities sales tax rates, by comparison, are 7.75% in both Lemon Grove and Santee, 8.25% in El Cajon and 8.5% in La Mesa.)

San Diego officials estimated that the additional revenue from the sales tax increase would have been from $360 to $400 million annually. The funding from the increase would have been designated for essential city services like public safety, infrastructure maintenance, parks and libraries as well as compensation for employees.

In the approved budget, sources of revenue for the city show several changes, including charging non-residents to park in Balboa Park and at the San Diego Zoo, allowing digital advertising and billboards throughout the city, increasing credit card fees for city business, early debt payoffs and leaving vacant management positions unfilled.

During the budget discussion, the City Council also agreed on a plan offered by San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer to have the county cover the costs of beach fire ring maintenance.

Stefanie Benvenuto, vice president of Pacific Public Affairs, a group working with Friends of the San Diego Lakes to provide advocacy, credited San Diego City Council Budget Chair Henry Foster for taking the lead, and praised “the incredible advocacy of the lakes coalition” for reversing the proposed closures.

She said, however, that the group will remain vigilant about protecting the future of the lakes.

“While we are grateful for this win, we remain committed to further discussions with the city to better fund the recreation programs and infrastructure that supports it,” Benvenuto said.