San Francisco supervisors approve 2018–19 budget after divided vote on transit spending

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted July 24 to adopt the city's fiscal 2018'19 budget package, approving the annual appropriation and salary ordinances and associated funding items (items 15'29 on the agenda) after separate votes on the transit agency portion of the plan.

President Malia Cohen, chairing the session, described the year's budget process as intended to be "a stronger, more transparent, more democratic process" and moved to accept the mayor's proposed technical amendments and the committee's policy-driven spending plan. She said the budget prioritized homelessness, public safety and clean streets and noted the board's use of a public spending-plan approach in place of the traditional add-back process.

The board heard extended remarks from several supervisors and staff about specific allocations. Supervisors highlighted funding streams included in the package: roughly $27 million in proposed investments for homelessness programs (listed by speakers as including a transitional-age-youth navigation center, rapid rehousing subsidies, treatment-bed expansion and additional street-medicine staff); $6.6 million for corridor managers and $5 new steam cleaners for streets; and $1.2 million for workforce development. President Cohen said the board's committee developed a spending plan of just over $41 million drawn from organizations' public funding requests and that Mayor London Breed added roughly $1.7 million the previous day for related priorities, including $1 million toward stabilizing housing for people with more complex mental-health needs and $725,000 for clean-streets work.

The meeting also recorded procedural actions. Supervisor Aaron Peskin announced a recusal on a limited portion of the budget tied to a specific district project (identified in the record as a line in the appropriation for RPBOS district projects on the budget page cited by the deputy city attorney). The board excused Supervisor Peskin for that vote and divided the budget to separate the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) items from the remainder of the budget.

Supervisor Sandy Fewer moved to divide the file and to take the SFMTA portion separately. After an initial roll call and a brief rescinding motion to correct the procedure, the board held a recorded roll-call on the SFMTA budget: the transit appropriation was adopted with nine ayes and one no (Supervisor Fewer cast the sole dissent on that vote, recorded in the roll call). The remainder of the budget package then passed in a separate roll call with 10 ayes.

Several supervisors used their remarks to describe priorities that shaped the final package. Supervisor Norman Yee and others praised investments to expand City College programs and early-education and child-care planning; Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer and others emphasized improvements to the add-back/legislative process that they said reduced back-room politics; Supervisor Mark Farrell (in remarks acknowledging prior mayors) and others thanked budget staff and the budget legislative analyst for their work in finding salary savings and other offsets.

The board made the annual appropriations ordinance (item 15), the annual salary ordinance (item 16) and related budget items final on first reading during the meeting and directed follow-up as required in the public record.

Votes at a glance - Items 15'29 (citywide budget package, as amended): adopted in two parts after division. Remainder of items (after the SFMTA portion) adopted by roll call; tally recorded in the meeting as yes 10, no 0 for the balance of the budget. - San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) budget (divided out from items 15'16): adopted by roll call with yes 9, no 1 (Supervisor Fewer recorded as the lone no). Under the city charter, the SFMTA budget must be adopted or rejected in whole; the board adopted it. - Recusal: Supervisor Aaron Peskin recused himself from the specific line-item tied to RPBOS district projects (identified on the record by the deputy city attorney) and was excused for that vote.

What the budget includes and next steps - Homelessness: speakers and the budget chair described about $27 million in targeted investments for navigation centers, rehousing subsidies, treatment-bed expansion and street-medicine staffing. - Clean streets: expanded "pit stop" restroom access, new "Big Belly" trash receptacles and $725,000 in additional clean-streets funding noted in a mayoral amendment. - Residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs): supervisors noted a combined city funding effort (board and mayor) to provide "patch" funding for seniors with complex medical needs; Supervisor Matt Haney'style remarks (as recorded by Supervisor Norman Yee in the transcript) stated previous funding secured through the add-back process and plans to convene work groups to study longer-term solutions.

The ordinance adoption at first reading concludes the board's action in this meeting; budget implementation steps and technical ordinance language will be followed by city departments and the mayor's office as the fiscal year begins. The record shows several supervisors pledged follow-up work and supplemental appropriations where needed.

Speakers (attribution whitelist) - Malia Cohen, President, Board of Supervisors (government) - Sandy Fewer, Supervisor (government) - Richard H. Kim, Supervisor (government) - Aaron Peskin, Supervisor (government) - Norman Yee, Supervisor (government) - Catherine Stefani (noted as "Supervisor Stephanie" in record), Supervisor (government) - Hillary Ronan (recorded as Ronan), Supervisor (government) - Ahsha Safa—? (recorded as Safaie), Supervisor (government) - Rafael Mandelman, Supervisor (government) - Matt Haney (not spoken but not present) not included - Ben Rosenfield, City Controller (government) - John Givner, Deputy City Attorney (government) - Kelly Kirkpatrick, Budget Director (government) - Sophia Kittler, Legislative Aide, Board President's Office (staff)

Authorities - type: "other", name: "Charter of the City and County of San Francisco", referenced_by: ["budget-adoption-2018-07-24"]

Actions - {"kind":"budget_adoption","identifiers":{},"motion":"Adopt items 15 through 29 (annual budget and related ordinances) as amended; accept mayor's technical amendments and committee spending plan","mover":"President Malia Cohen (moved by Vice Chair Sandy Fewer for division; final motion to adopt by Malia Cohen)","second":"Motion to adopt budget amendments seconded by Supervisor Norman Yee (recorded as second for main motion)","vote_record":[{"member":"Kim","vote":"yes"},{"member":"Mandelmann","vote":"yes"},{"member":"Peskin","vote":"yes"},{"member":"Ronan","vote":"yes"},{"member":"Safaie","vote":"yes"},{"member":"Stefani","vote":"yes"},{"member":"Yi","vote":"yes"},{"member":"Brown","vote":"yes"},{"member":"Cohen","vote":"yes"},{"member":"Feuer","vote":"absent/recused?"}],"tally":{"yes":10,"no":0,"abstain":0},"outcome":"approved","notes":"Budget adopted in two parts after division of SFMTA portion; Supervisor Peskin recused on a specific line item."} - {"kind":"motion","identifiers":{},"motion":"Divide the question to separate the SFMTA budget (items 15 and 16) from the rest of the budget for a roll-call vote","mover":"Supervisor Sandy Fewer","second":"Supervisor Yee","vote_record":[],"tally":{},"outcome":"direction","notes":"Division of file carried; SFMTA taken separately."} - {"kind":"motion","identifiers":{},"motion":"Vote on the SFMTA budget (divided question)","mover":"n/a","second":"n/a","vote_record":[{"member":"Kim","vote":"yes"},{"member":"Mandelmann","vote":"yes"},{"member":"Peskin","vote":"yes"},{"member":"Ronan","vote":"yes"},{"member":"Safaie","vote":"yes"},{"member":"Stefani","vote":"yes"},{"member":"Yi","vote":"yes"},{"member":"Brown","vote":"yes"},{"member":"Cohen","vote":"yes"},{"member":"Fewer","vote":"no"}],"tally":{"yes":9,"no":1},"outcome":"approved","notes":"SFMTA budget adopted; under the charter the SFMTA budget must be adopted or rejected in whole."} - {"kind":"recusal","identifiers":{},"motion":"Excuse Supervisor Aaron Peskin from voting on the budget line related to RPBOS district projects (Washington Square water conservation project)","mover":"Supervisor Safaie","second":"Supervisor Yee","vote_record":[],"tally":{},"outcome":"approved","notes":"Supervisor Peskin was excused for that portion of the vote per his recusal request."}

Discussion vs. decision - Discussion: Numerous supervisors described committee priorities, the public process changes, and discrete funding requests (homeless programs, clean-streets investments, RCFE patch funding). Several speakers urged supplemental work and follow-up reporting. - Direction/assignment: The board requested follow-up studies and continuing work groups on residential care facilities and on staffing/cost studies for public-safety civilianization (mentioned by Supervisor Yee and others). - Formal actions: The board adopted the budget ordinances (items 15'29) on first reading and separated and adopted the SFMTA budget by recorded roll call.

Clarifying details - "Committee spending-plan" total referenced by President Cohen: approximately $41,000,000 allocated to prioritized add-back requests. - Additional mayoral amendments noted in the record: approximately $1,700,000 (including $1,000,000 to stabilize housing for people with complex mental-health needs and $725,000 for Clean Streets). - Homelessness investments cited during discussion: roughly $27,000,000 for navigation centers, rehousing subsidies, treatment-bed expansion and related staffing. - Corridor management: $6,600,000 cited for corridor managers and $1,200,000 for workforce development; $5 new steam cleaners referenced. - Recusal: Supervisor Peskin recused from an appropriation line found in the budget legislative analyst page referenced by Deputy City Attorney John Givner (identified in the public record as RPBOS district projects). The clerk recorded the excusal.

Proper_names [{"name":"San Francisco Board of Supervisors","type":"agency"},{"name":"Office of the Mayor (London Breed)","type":"agency"},{"name":"San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency","type":"agency"},{"name":"Budget Legislative Analyst","type":"agency"},{"name":"Fix It","type":"program"},{"name":"Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFEs)","type":"other"}]

clarifying_details_structured:[{"category":"committee_spending_plan","detail":"Policy-driven spending plan","value":"41000000","units":"USD","approximate":true,"source_speaker":"Malia Cohen"},{"category":"mayor_amendment","detail":"Additional amendments announced by mayor","value":"1700000","units":"USD","approximate":true,"source_speaker":"Malia Cohen"},{"category":"homeless_investment","detail":"Proposed investments in homelessness including TAY navigation center, rapid rehousing, treatment bed expansion","value":"27000000","units":"USD","approximate":true,"source_speaker":"Malia Cohen"},{"category":"corridor_managers","detail":"Funding for corridor managers to assist with cleanliness of merchant corridors","value":"6600000","units":"USD","approximate":true,"source_speaker":"Malia Cohen"}]

provenance":{"transcript_segments":[{"block_id":"s=265.8","local_start":0,"local_end":268,"evidence_excerpt":"Items 15 through 29 are being called together. These items comprise the budget and appropriation ordinance to appropriate all estimated receipts and all estimated, expenditures for the departments of the city as of 06/01/2018...","tc_start":"00:04:25","tc_end":"00:06:05","reason_code":"topicintro"},{"block_id":"s=1155.6","local_start":0,"local_end":240,"evidence_excerpt":"Now this is a motion to accept the mayor's proposed budget amendments. This is to amend item 15 and item 16 in the technical amendment letter...Motion made by supervisor Feuer, seconded by supervisor Yi...","tc_start":"00:19:15","tc_end":"00:23:15","reason_code":"topicfinish"}]}} ,{