Reading the Wall Street Journal recently, you may think San Diego is on the financial rocks again.
In an editorial published on Feb. 27 about the proposed Raiders-Chargers joint stadium, the city’s fiscal health was compared to Oakland’s shaky finances.
The editorial’s author Allysia Finley wrote, “Yet both California cities are strapped for cash because of soaring labor costs,” implying San Diego is running a deficit.
But the editorial was wrong.
“Don’t know who their sources were, but obviously, they should pick up the phone and call people in the know,” said Jay Goldstone, former CFO and COO of the city of San Diego.
Instead of having a deficit, the city is expected to have a surplus by the end of the fiscal year.
NBC 7, citing the California Open Records Act, requested an email exchange between a city official and the Wall Street Journal.
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In it, the city source San Diego has had a five-year salary freeze and the latest analysis shows “flat pensionable pay," according to their chief financial officer. At the end of the email to the Journal, the city employee asks for a correction.
After the exchange of messages, the online version has not been changed, and the Wall Street Journal is still reporting San Diego is “strapped for cash.”
However, Goldstone said he does not anticipate any financial fallout from the editorial.
“I think the concerns are more political and your reputation and perhaps a poor reflection on the current administration; unjustifiable,” he said.
