Sean Elo-Rivera Targets $18.5 Million Petco Park Costs — San Diego News
san diego news: Sean Elo-Rivera is pushing to slash the city’s share of Petco Park expenses while San Diego works through a budget still in flux. The councilmember has asked for an analysis of the city’s options as the upcoming fiscal year looms and the city faces an $18.5 million bill tied to the ballpark.
Elo-Rivera Pushes Back
Late Friday, Elo-Rivera said, “The city is wrestling with a structural deficit and proposed cuts to services San Diegans depend on. I have a responsibility to examine every opportunity to protect what matters most to San Diegans. Doing so includes questioning subsidies the city provides to highly profitable enterprises.”
He added, “I won’t blindly subsidize a $3.9 billion enterprise’s operations while we tell kids in this city that their library hours will be reduced and arts and culture programming will be eliminated. I have asked for an analysis of our options and we can make decisions on how to proceed once we know what those options are.”
The Petco Park budget fight lands while Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposed budget eliminates $11.8 million in annual city grants to arts and culture organizations. Gloria has since released a revised draft budget with funding for some previously proposed cuts, but it does not restore funding for local arts groups.
Petco Park And JUMA
The city’s ballpark contract with the Padres is the Joint Use and Management Agreement, or JUMA. Under that deal, San Diego pays for police services outside Petco Park, event traffic control and 70% of ballpark ownership costs, while the Padres pay for game-day venue expenses, police services inside the ballpark and traffic control service that exceeds the contract’s defined baseline.
In the upcoming fiscal year, San Diego expects to spend $18.5 million on Petco Park-related expenses and bring in a little more than $8 million in revenue from Petco Park-related accounts. The Petco Park Fund deficit is balanced with $10.4 million in transfers from the Transient Occupancy Tax Fund.
Padres Defend The Deal
On Saturday, the Padres organization said, “The city has a longstanding contractual obligation to keep the public streets around Petco Park safe for 4 million visitors each year.”
It also said, “The Padres pay for most police services associated with games and events, including all police and security inside the ballpark. Those costs have totaled $11 million over the last three years and nearly doubled after the City Council increased fees across the board for San Diegans.”
The organization added, “Petco Park annually generates almost $1 billion in economic impact, supports more than 13,500 jobs, and has contributed $23 million to the city’s general fund through revenue sharing on non-baseball events over the last five years alone.”
The dispute now centers on whether San Diego can reduce its Petco Park contribution without changing the JUMA. Elo-Rivera wants the numbers reviewed before the city locks in the next budget, and the final decision will shape how much pressure falls on the city’s arts, culture and ballpark accounts at the same time.
