It’s a safe bet —probably 100% certain— that 9 out of 10 adults who live in Chula Vista or National City do not know their city’s budget.
The figure for fiscal year 2024-2025, by the way, is $595.3 million in Chula Vista.
National City, population: 55,000-ish, anticipates spending about $75 million.
Give some cookies to that 1 person in 10 working 9 to 5 or swing shift or graveyard that can call to mind that half a billion dollars.
Give them some cocoa and sprinkles, too, if they can tell you what their city’s top three expenditures are along with the corresponding price tags.
In most cases people are too busy running their lives and mentally balancing their own household budgets to pay attention to how much a city’s spending on community outreach, public parks and street repair.
It’s unfortunate but understandable. Life is busy for those of us who weren’t elected to keep an eye on the purse strings.
Each year around this time local and state governments make announcements regarding shortfalls and enhancements and warn of cuts to essential programs or scary taxes that will cripple the economy.
(Congress, on the other hand, can’t really seem to get its act together and consistently pass a budget resolution on time).
Paying attention to budget talks might be more palatable if we could relate them to our own lives but the similarities between home and government expenses and revenue are few.
It’s no surprise that the bulk of our personal expenditures go toward housing in the form of mortgage payments or rent, and inclusive of utilities. To a small degree that need was mirrored by the city of Chula Vista where there will be an increase in homeless outreach.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after housing the next largest monthly expenditure for households nationally is on transportation costs.
Likewise a city has to maintain its transportation fleet (police cars, fire engines, utility trucks). But after that the similarities start to diverge quickly.
We don’t pay enough attention to the details until storm drains overflow and cause calamitous flooding or a recreation center cuts its hours because they are understaffed. If only there was a quick budget fix for adding more time.
