Board adopts AB 109 staffing and realignment plan; mayor flags potential funding gap

The Board of Supervisors approved ordinances and a resolution to implement the city's response to Assembly Bill 109, the state prisoner realignment law, and adopted San Francisco's Public Safety Realignment Plan.

Supervisor Mercarimi described the items as "the final piece of the budget" to begin the local realignment plan and said the city had held extensive hearings and reentry council meetings to prepare. The ordinances (items 12 and 13 on the agenda) amended the annual salary ordinance to add 31 positions across departments and appropriated approximately $5,700,000 of AB 109 revenue to support adult probation, district attorney, public defender and sheriff expenditures for FY 2011–12. The Board passed the measures on the consent calendar.

A separate resolution (item 21) approving the City and County of San Francisco's 2011 Public Safety Realignment Plan was adopted on the same day.

Mayor Lee acknowledged the likely need for additional funding beyond the state's $5,700,000 allocation. He told supervisors that the city's FY 2011–12 budget included a reserve and that a 0.5-cent sales tax restoration on the November ballot would bring in $15,000,000 if approved (to be split between public safety and health and human services). He said the city would monitor AB 109's impacts starting October 1 and assess further needs.

Supervisor Merkamimi (sic) raised the projected funding gap, citing a probation estimate of a $3,500,000 shortfall; the mayor urged monitoring and said the city had contingency reserves and other potential resources.

Item 12 (adding 31 positions) and item 13 (appropriating AB 109 revenue) passed on first reading as part of the adoption without committee reference. Item 21, the realignment plan resolution, was adopted on the consent portion of the agenda.