An effort to delay approval of San Diego County’s 2025-26 budget failed at the Board of Supervisors — meaning county leaders will need to devise a spending plan by June 30 amid uncertainty over how the state’s budget deficit and federal funding cuts will impact county programs.
Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe, who had proposed the delay, urged her colleagues to approve an interim budget and get clarity on state and federal spending before finalizing a budget by the fall.
“We have no idea what’s coming to us, we really just don’t know,” she said at Wednesday’s meeting. “This is a very unprecedented time.”
The proposal — initially scheduled for a Tuesday vote before being bumped by a packed agenda — fell short of the it needed on a 2-1 vote.
The county’s fiscal year begins July 1, and the Board of Supervisors normally approves a budget by June 30. But state law permits the board to approve an interim budget as long as a formal budget is adopted no later than Oct. 2.
Such a delay would also give whoever is elected District 1 supervisor a chance to weigh in on budget priorities.
Former Supervisor Nora Vargas vacated the seat early this year, opting not to serve a second term due to “personal safety and security reasons.”
After a special election Tuesday, Chula Vista Mayor John McCann and Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre appear headed to a July runoff. Both candidates said last week they favor weighing in on the budget after the election.
“I’ve been vocal in my opposition to making that decision without representation of District 1, or District 1 having a seat at the table,” Aguirre said last Thursday.
In a statement last week, she said approving a budget before the district has a supervisor risked “shortchanging” District 1’s communities and suggested the county adopt an interim budget for now and vote on the full-year budget once the new supervisor is sworn in.
McCann said that, if elected, he would want the opportunity to participate in the budget decision. But he believes the greater issue is how the new supervisor will handle the county’s multimillion-dollar deficit.
“I would be hopeful that I could participate,” he said last week. “But the true debate is not about delaying the budget vote. It’s about what the District 1 supervisor will do to fix the county’s $140 million-plus structural deficit.”
Montgomery Steppe’s proposal needed three votes to . At Wednesday’s meeting, she and Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer voted in favor, while Supervisor Joel Anderson was opposed. Supervisor Jim Desmond, who is in Washington, D.C., did not attend.
At a press conference Monday, Anderson argued that any delays could result in cuts to services and possibly hurt the county’s credit rating.
Joan Bracci, the county’s chief financial officer, said Wednesday that adopting Montgomery Steppe’s proposal would not impact services and would have no effect on the county’s credit rating as long as supervisors adopt a budget before Oct. 2.
“If you look at the wording of the government code, it almost sounds like (the two-step process) is the default and the one-step is something you can do if you don’t want to or need to do the two-step process,” she said.
In a statement after the vote, Montgomery Steppe called it “fiscally irresponsible” to approve a budget without a full grasp of how cuts to food assistance, Medi-Cal and other federally funded programs might affect services to low-income San Diegans.
Cuts to federal assistance programs could impact nearly one-third of the county’s $8.5 billion budget, which was already facing a shortfall of $138.5 million.
“As elected officials, we are often tasked with making difficult decisions, and this was one of those moments,” she said. “Approving a budget without fully understanding the fiscal landscape or anticipating potential cuts is not a prudent approach.”
The statement notes that several counties in California, including Los Angeles, follow a two-step budget process.
Staff writer Maura Fox contributed to this report.
