Making and keeping promises in San Diego.

• Author: Golding, Susan
• Position: San Diego, CA's financial and crime management

In San Diego, California, we have helped to turn around an extremely depressed economy and a skyrocketing violent crime rate. The year before I took office, San Diego was in the midst of a recession. Violent crime had jumped a startling 46 percent in the four years prior, and San Diego had lost nearly 60,000 jobs between summer 1990 and summer 1993. The problems were systemic; to turn this around required a major change in actions.

We began to replace lost jobs by putting a moratorium on new business regulations and fees - costs inhibited revenues rather than generated them. We began Regulatory Relief Days, public meetings where citizens could tell the city council what regulations they thought were unnecessary or needed fixing. We established a Business Ombudsman Program to attract and retain employers. The ombudsman cuts red tape and looks for incentives in the form of fee cuts and permit expedites on a case-by-case basis.

These were the worst budget years in the city's history. Although many argued that this was the worst time to cut fees, we sent a clear message that city hall had changed when we cut the business tax in half for 90 percent of San Diego businesses. We cut it in half again the following year. We cut water and sewer capacity charges 55 percent and by two-thirds for developers who build affordable housing. We cut housing trust fund fees by 50 percent. Today, our combined municipal taxes and business fees are lower than those of any other major city in the nation.

We established San Diego's first World Trade Center, which has grown to 1,300 members since it opened in 1993. We have gained back more than the 60,000 jobs lost during the recession. Our biotech companies had a 16 percent growth in employment last year alone, and high technology companies had 11 percent. These new high tech jobs pay 66 percent more than the average for all jobs. Higher wages equal higher revenues to the city budget, which in turn means more investment in local resources - more police, fire safety, park and recreation facilities and libraries.

The success was achieved by following a simple strategy - we made promises and we kept them. We cut the cost of dealing with our city, and it helped create jobs and stabilize our economy.

A government efficiency task force suggested some sweeping changes, all of which were adopted: abolishing civil service or reducing the number of employees on it, reforming our budget process so it is zero-based, and...