Supervisor Avalos urges Board to hold up to $100 million of SFPD budget until reform metrics met

Supervisor John Avalos proposed that the Board of Supervisors place a portion of the San Francisco Police Department’s budget into a reserve that would be released in tranches only after the department demonstrates measurable progress on agreed reforms.

Avalos told the Police Commission on July 6 that his office originally discussed a $200 million reserve but had scaled it back in the draft to “up to $100,000,000” to make the idea more politically and operationally realistic. He described the reserve as a lever to ensure implementation of reforms—including use-of-force reporting, crisis-intervention team rollout, early intervention system implementation, and more objective hiring and promotion procedures—rather than a punishment to “make the Department fail.” According to Avalos, the 2016 police budget was about $577,000,000, which made $100 million a substantial but not department-ending amount.

Commissioners pressed Avalos on several points: how funds would be released, the effect on academy classes and field staffing if salary lines were withheld, and who would set and certify the metrics. Deputy Chief Hector Sinas, speaking for the department, warned that roughly 95% of the SFPD budget is personnel costs and that withholding salary funding could create the risk of furloughs or service impacts if it was not carefully phased. Commissioners also emphasized that any reserve would require Board-level votes and wide community and department buy-in.

Several implementation details remain open. Avalos proposed periodic (quarterly) reviews and releasing funds in chunks as reform milestones are met; he said he preferred a broad set of conditions rather than minute-by-minute accounting so the department would not be ‘‘hamstrung’’ by overly rigid metrics. Commissioners urged specificity: metrics should be attainable, transparent and tied to operationally realistic schedules so the public can meaningfully evaluate progress.

The Commission did not vote on the proposal. Instead, members invited Avalos, SFPD command staff and Commissioner volunteers to meet in the coming week to refine metrics and timelines and to identify whether the reserve should be tied to discrete line items (for example, academy classes or non-personnel administrative costs) rather than across-the-board salary accounts. Commissioner Malara volunteered to represent the Commission in those meetings.

What happens next: Avalos’ office and SFPD were asked to schedule a meeting between department command and Commission representatives to define the metrics and framing of a potential reserve. If the Board of Supervisors were to adopt a reserve ordinance, it would require formal Board action and, in practice, likely a public hearing during which the department and community would weigh in.

Notes: Avalos repeatedly framed the reserve as an accountability tool to show transformation in officers’ conduct and departmental implementation of adopted policies; the department and several commissioners emphasized the need to avoid causing sudden operational shortfalls in districts already reporting understaffing.