SAN DIEGO – The City Council Wednesday endorsed the concept of Mayor Jerry Sanders' remedial plan as proposed by the consulting firm Kroll Inc., which conducted an investigation into San Diego's finances.

The panel voted 6-1 to accept and adopt, in principle, the 121 remedial recommendations recently outlined by Kroll and adopted by Sanders.

Any of the suggestions that have a fiscal impact or require a change to council policy, the municipal code or city charter would have to come back before the council for further review and approval.

Some of the reforms would also require voter backing.

Council President Scott Peters has scheduled special council meetings on Oct. 16, Nov. 13 and Dec. 4 for more detailed discussions.

Councilwoman Donna Frye cast the lone dissenting vote, expressing frustration over the lack of a cost analysis and improper vetting.

“I don't think it is reasonable to put this council in a situation, to ask us to adopt in principle, theory, concept or otherwise, something that you can't tell me today how in the hell we are going to pay for,” she said.

Councilman Tony Young was excused from the meeting.

Kroll, a New York City-based risk management firm, was paid $20.3 million for its review on the causes of the city's $1.4 billion pension deficit and alleged failure to disclose that debt to Wall Street.

In its 266-page report, Kroll called on the city to implement a number of reforms, including the appointment of an autonomous monitor to oversee the city's budgetary, finance and reporting practices.

The city was also encouraged to change the structure of the pension board, strengthen the role of the chief financial officer, create a permanent three-member audit committee and hire an auditor general.

All of Kroll's recommendations were endorsed by Mayor Jerry Sanders soon after being presented to the council on Aug. 8.

Sanders said he wants to implement Kroll's ideas within the next 30 months, a move he estimated would cost the city a “conservative” $45 million over the next seven years.

The mayor told the council the changes ultimately need to be implemented in order to “proactively address and correct the clear and convincing patterns of mismanagement and negligence” outlined in the Kroll report.

He encouraged a “vigorous” public debate, but also cautioned that Kroll's ideas won't resolve the city's financial problems.

“The implementation of this plan is merely one of many steps that it will take to solve these problems,” he said.

San Diego should not wait for the Securities and Exchange Commission to conclude its ongoing inquiry before enacting reforms, Sanders said.

“I am not persuaded by the argument that we should hold off on adopting a remedial plan until we hear from the SEC,” he said. “I think most in this community would agree that we've waited long enough.”

San Diego's inadequate financial disclosures, coupled with deals that led to the underfunding of the municipal pension system, are the subject of investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Attorney's Office.

In its report, Kroll implicated several former and current elected officials for being “negligent in fulfillment of their bond offering disclosure responsibilities.”

City Attorney Michael Aguirre does not support the hiring of an independent monitor and wants audit committee members appointed by the City Council and not the mayor, but agreed with Sanders that the city had “waited too long” to act to solve the financial crisis.

Aguirre has said the appointment of an independent monitor is a role that should be played by the city attorney.

A report by the City Attorney's Office last week also recommends that the council only implement the proposals when legal requirements are met and the city is in compliance with expected SEC remediation measures.

Andrea Tevlin, the council's independent budget analyst, also argued that the mayor should not be the one to appoint audit committee members.

“We think it makes no sense,” she said, adding that the proposal should be modified before it returns to the council.

Stating that getting the city's fiscal house in order was his top priority, Councilman Kevin Faulconer argued for “fundamental” rather than “incremental” change in the culture at City Hall.

“Returning our city to financial stability in my opinion is our number one, two and three priority right now,” he said.

Chief Financial Officer Jay Goldstone reaffirmed that San Diego will get a long-delayed audit by October and should have access to the public bond markets by the end of next February.

The city's outside accounting firm KPMG withheld its 2003 review of the city's financial statements pending the release of the Kroll report.

Without the audit, and subsequent ones, San Diego has been unable to restore its suspended credit rating and borrow money on the public bond markets for things like water and sewer upgrades.