Supervisors approve 2009–10 City budget after hours of debate over public defender funding, reserves and public financing

The Board of Supervisors on July 20 approved the consolidated budget and annual appropriation ordinance for the City and County of San Francisco for fiscal year ending June 30, 2010, after extensive debate about restorations, reserves and a high-profile request for additional funding for the Public Defender.

The budget was adopted after the board approved a package of committee and floor amendments intended to preserve safety-net services while addressing a projected citywide shortfall; the final votes on the main budget measures registered nine ayes and two noes on the ordinances that enact the appropriation and the salary schedule.

Budget Chair Supervisor David Chiu's successor for the hearing, Supervisor Chris Avalos, summarized the board—s work as producing what he called "a budget at this point, that keeps this city running." Avalos and others said the city faces a deep structural problem: the next fiscal year is projected to have roughly a $300 million shortfall and state actions remain uncertain.

A major flashpoint on the floor was a motion by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi to take $900,000 from the Superior Court's indigent-defense allotment and reallocate it to local legal offices: $650,000 to the San Francisco Public Defender's Office and $250,000 to the District Attorney's Office. Mirkarimi formally moved to "deappropriate dollars 900,000, from the trial courts," and his motion prompted extended questioning about the Superior Court budget and the logic for taking money from that source.

The board first voted on the source questionwhether to take $900,000 from the trial-court indigent-defense line. That source-side vote passed 7ayes to 4noes. Board members then voted separately on the two uses. The allocation of $250,000 to the District Attorney carried on a 9to2 vote, and the $650,000 allotment to the Public Defender also passed 9to2. A separate amendment that would have…