Board continues budget packet after debate over transparency, adds technical amendments

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors continued the bulk of the city's annual budget legislation for one week on Tuesday while supervisors debated technical adjustments and the transparency of the "add-back" process.

Chair of the Budget Committee Supervisor Malia Cohen previewed technical amendments and said the proposals reflected hundreds of hours of deliberations and prioritized childcare, food security, youth services, homelessness and a City College reserve. Cohen highlighted allocations included in the proposed add-back list: more than $4,000,000 for childcare, over $3,000,000 for food security, over $2,000,000 for youth and at-risk youth services, and over $8,000,000 for homelessness and supportive housing; she also mentioned a $1,000,000 reserve to help sustain free City College in the event of revenue downturns.

Multiple supervisors praised the effort and urged reforms to the city's budget process. Supervisor Hillary Ronan (District 9) said the add-back process is broken and criticized equal distribution of add-back amounts across districts when constituent service demands differ; she noted that her district received roughly five times the number of 311 calls as another district during a recent 90-day period. Supervisor Katy Tang and others called for earlier and more transparent engagement with the mayor's budget office and the controller's office so the board can better scrutinize the full $10 billion budget rather than only the late-stage add-back pot.

Supervisor Cohen introduced a package of technical amendments and asked the board to consider them together. After discussion, supervisors agreed to accept and introduce the technical amendments and to continue items 19 through 35 (the annual appropriation ordinance and related trailing pieces) to the July 18 meeting. The board took the continuance without objection.

Several supervisors also praised advocates and legislative aides who participated in late-night budget sessions. The board asked the Budget Analyst and controller's staff to provide further information in advance of final votes next week. Committee chairs and staff noted that certain trailing ordinances (seven ordinances and eight resolutions tied to the budget) would be returned for final action and that the City Charter requires the board not adopt the budget earlier than July 15 nor later than August 1.

The continuance allows supervisors time to review technical corrections and for sponsors to incorporate amendments that were not ready for introduction, including items requested by the Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure (OCII).