San Diego Taxpayers on the Hook for $34,100

Truth in Accounting released their annual report on the debt for America’s 10 largest cities. The City Combined Taxpayer Burden Report includes the city’s largest underlying government units, such as counties and school districts. With the exception of New York City, most municipalities do not include in their annual financial reports the finances of large, underlying government units for which city taxpayers are also responsible. When adding the Taxpayer Burden of these underlying government units with the city and state Taxpayer Burden, it is clear that the debt is much greater than what one would assume.

San Diego taxpayers deal with the costly state debt which racks up to $20,300 per taxpayer. Additionally, the City of San Diego has a Taxpayer Burden of $4,700 and taxpayers pay $9,100 for the county, school, and public transit debts. In total taxpayers living in San Diego would have to pay $34,100 to cover the county, state, underlying governments’ unfunded debt.

Contrastly, San Diego benefits from the San Diego County Water Authority because it has a Taxpayer Surplus of nearly $200, which means it has more than enough money to pay its bills.

This report analyzes the fiscal health of the 10 most populous U.S. cities pre-COVID-19. In conclusion, Truth in Accounting’s analysis aims to help readers understand the implications of city, county, and underlying governmental units’ debt, which creates high levels of Taxpayer Burdens for individuals living within cities that need proper resources to function and stay afloat. Overall, this report highlights the financial struggles each city went into the pandemic with and we can assume the fiscal health of these cities worsened during the pandemic.

Anna D'Aprile is a Press and Communications Intern at Truth in Accounting