San Diego officials are in the process of nailing down the details of its 2025 proposed budget. There is still work to be done before a final approval of the $5.65 billion proposed budget, but available documents give a good sense of how the city’s IT investments could change between now and then.
Mayor Todd Gloria said in a letter to residents that the proposed budget is a step toward addressing “complex and nuanced” challenges the city is facing, including an ongoing homelessness crisis and a “structural budget deficit.”
“The fiscal strategies laid out in the Fiscal Year 2025 Proposed Budget include both strategic reductions across various departments and targeted investments in critical areas. However, these measures, while significant, are part of a longer-term process to rectify the city’s structural budget deficit,” Gloria wrote.
The overall outlook for the Department of Information Technology is positive, at least on paper, with a proposed budget of $139.3 million — up $2.1 million from 2024.
The increase, budget documents note, is primarily related to contractual increases for desktop support and application services, increased PC counts in General Fund departments, and an increase in the number of full-time positions that require software licenses and IT support.
Where contracts and services are concerned, the proposed budget outlines a $3.1 million increase for the “administration of information technology services citywide.”
One area facing reductions related to IT is digital literacy services. That program, called Tech on the Go, consists of $57,000 in contractual services for “non-personnel expenditures.” Tech on the Go focuses on “upskilling residents in basic computer and technology capabilities” to reduce barriers posed by the digital divide.
The Police Department will also see a $1.5 million reduction from a 2024 one-time addition toward its controversial smart streetlight project. That project to deploy surveillance-capable streetlights faced significant backlash from privacy advocates.
The Library will see a one-time decrease of $200,000 toward the replacement of aging computers used by the public.
For the Office of Emergency Services, there is a proposed reduction of $81,074. “The reductions include supplies, contracts and services, information technology, energy and utilities, and other expenses, and will significantly reduce the Office’s discretionary budget to support emergency operations,” the documents note.
The Performance and Analytics Department will see a reduction of $105,813 in personnel expenditures, temporarily delaying the hiring when vacancies arise. The Performance Dashboard/Open Budget Tool will also see a reduction of $100,000.
A May revision could change these figures for better or worse.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story cited an IT budget figure that was incorrect. That figure has since been adjusted.
San Diego IT Seems to Be on Solid Footing With 2025 Proposed Budget
The city’s budget is still in the works, but so far the Department of Information Technology is on track to get slightly more funding than it did last year.
