SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The San Diego City Council is continuing to weigh its options on how it will handle the looming city budget deficit.
On Monday night, the council gave the community a chance to make their voices heard on a number of possible changes that could come to the city.
The city is facing a $258 million budget deficit.
The public's requests for continued funding ranged from public services like police and fire, to homeless prevention services and youth services.
One of the items considered to bring in revenue and that's supported by most council members is increasing parking meter fee revenue with things like more metered spaces or increased hours of enforcement. The city already doubled the parking rates in the city last month.
However, some asked the council to leave the parking meter fees alone, and before the meeting, some worried that the move would hurt more than help.
"If you’re going to make it a burden for them to park even more, there’s going to be fewer and fewer people, I don’t know how the businesses are surviving because there’s nobody in the restaurants," said Sami Shaikh, who's lived in Little Italy for 11 years.
A majority of the council also supported a trash collection fee as a way to generate more revenue.
A few other items supported by four or fewer council members included a cannabis business tax, charging admission fees to major city-run events, and charging a fee for vacant or abandoned commercial property.
The budget priorities passed unanimously without any amendments.
The council asked for the public’s feedback earlier than they usually do in their budget process. Typically, public input isn’t taken until after the preliminary budget is released.
Although the budget priorities were accepted with no changes, Council President Joe LaCava said the feedback will be seriously considered.
"I can assure you council members are listening very intently even if they don’t speak or formally indicate support during meetings like this, they are taking notes," said LaCava.
