Mayor Farrell directs city staff to build economic resiliency plan, names review group

Mayor Mark Farrell told the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on May 8 that he has issued an executive directive creating a cross‑departmental team to monitor economic indicators and develop mitigation strategies in the event of a recession. Farrell said the group will include the city controller, the city economist, the city administrator, the mayor’s budget director and the director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development and must deliver concrete mitigation strategies by Sept. 1, 2018.

Farrell said San Francisco has experienced seven years of sustained growth, adding “nearly 190,000 jobs since 2010” and expanding general fund revenue by “over $1,900,000,000,” but warned the city must prepare for a downturn. He and his staff described scenario modeling produced for the economic resiliency work showing a range of job‑loss outcomes: a severe tech‑sector downturn could cost more than 54,000 jobs and push unemployment above 9 percent; a mild scenario would still be a more than 15,000‑job loss and unemployment over 6 percent.

The mayor said the group will track local, regional and national indicators — including personal income tax receipts, gross receipts filings, commercial vacancy rates and stock prices — and recommend triggers and short‑ and long‑term mitigation options. He said departments have been instructed to support the group’s planning and implementation.

Farrell framed the directive as a continuation of work begun under Mayor Edwin M. Lee and said the city’s fiscal position — including a near‑10 percent stabilization reserve and a recent high credit rating from Moody’s — makes the planning effort feasible.

The board did not take a vote on the directive during the meeting; Farrell’s remarks were presented during the mayor’s appearance period and recorded in the meeting minutes.

Farrell: “I’m directing the group to submit concrete ready to go mitigation strategies by September first of this year.”