Supervisors advance Taxi Commission fee ordinance and reallocate savings to add investigator

The Budget and Finance Committee advanced a proposed Taxi Commission fee ordinance to the full Board of Supervisors and approved reallocating budget savings to fund a 0.77 full-time-equivalent investigator for the Taxi Commission.

Jordana Thigpen, acting executive director of the Taxi Commission, said staff and the budget analyst had agreed on approximately $84,000 in cuts and discussed whether the commission could add a 0.77 FTE investigator (class 4334) at an ongoing cost the commission estimated at roughly $77,000 when annualized. Budget staff and the controller’s office clarified the Taxi Commission operates on a fee-based, cost-recovery model and that changes would not hit the general fund.

During an extended public-comment period medallion holders and taxi-industry representatives criticized the scale of proposed fee increases. Witnesses said medallion renewal fees had been $498 last year, noted the commission had earlier proposed a higher amount and said taxi drivers faced steep percentage increases (testimony cited a 52% increase in one draft and a 92% increase in another figure presented in public remarks). Commenters also linked budget pressure to legal costs from an ADA lawsuit with an imminent federal-court hearing.

Supervisor Jake McGoldrick moved to accept the budget analyst’s recommendations, reappropriate the savings to add a 0.77 FTE investigator (class 4334) and send item number 2 (the motor-vehicle-for-hire permit fee ordinance) forward with a recommendation. Supervisor Xu seconded the motion. Committee members discussed charter timing requirements — that fee increases introduced with the mayor’s budget must be accepted or rejected within 30 days — and agreed to forward the ordinance along with other fee items. The committee proceeded without recorded objection.

Committee members said they wanted to avoid creating structural shortfalls: supervisors repeatedly asked how a part-time addition would annualize into next year’s costs and whether the merged MTA would inherit the same staffing obligations. The Taxi Commission and controller’s office said annualization would normally push the cost into the next year’s requests unless the commission chose not to request full FTE funding.

The item will go to the full board for consideration alongside the mayor’s broader fee proposals and the June 1 budget book technical changes.