The new budget slashes executive and department posts
San Diego port is following the sensible example of its larger neighbor 120 miles north, Long Beach. For its 2011-12 budget the port is shedding 43 jobs, bringing the total reduction for the last three year to 93 jobs, 14 percent of the workforce. The Theme running through its budget plans is to become a leaner, fitter organization – executive posts have been chopped down to six from 13 and the number of departments from 18 to 13.
For some observers, the port is still over staffed. They compare Los Angeles, with 7 million containers a year and 900 staff, to San Diego, which has 550 people and moves 500,000 boxes a year. LA moves more than 14 times as many containers with less than double the number of staff.
San Diego is much more of a cruise ship, project cargo and vehicle port, which should be taken into consideration. Comparing budget size, it forecasts operating revenue of $128 million vs. $345 million for LA – making a difference of 2.7 times for the larger port while the number of staff is only 1.6 times greater.
Other main features of the San Diego budget - wharfage is budgeted at $10 million, an
increase of $1.2 million, (14 percent) compared to last year’s budget due to higher throughput projected from automobiles and windmill components. The wharfage increase is offset by a potential reduction in minimum annual guarantee (MAG) revenue from lumber operations.
Income from cruise ships is way down, a reflection of the economy and Mexico's drug war. Cruise Ship Passenger Security Charges are budgeted at $800,000, $1million (58 percent) down on from the previous year. The number of cruise ship calls is projected to decrease from 125 to 71. A cruise ship security charge is payable by the cruise lines for the port expense in providing guard services and screening plus a 15 percent mark up. Cruise ship passenger fees are budgeted at $1.3 million, $1 million (44 percent) down Cruise ships passengers are projected to decrease from 386,000 to 216,000.
Parking is a big income earner, bringing in $7 million. And beware of expired meters—citations will earn another $300,000. There's something odd about a business model that depends on stationary cars for a large chunk of money.
Debt service will take up about $8 million.