San Francisco Commission on the Environment approves department budget and backs $3.2 million general‑fund ask

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Commission on the Environment on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve the Department of the Environment’s draft operating budget for fiscal year 2022–23 and to back a separate general‑fund request that department leaders estimated at $3.2 million.

Director Deborah Raffel and fiscal manager Joe Salem presented the budget to commissioners, explaining the difference between the department’s operating budget and its Annual Appropriation Ordinance (AAO) submission and highlighting that a large multiyear energy grant is included in the AAO but not fully recognized in operating revenues for 2023. Salem reported an operating deficit of $436,000 for FY22–23 — roughly 2% of the operating budget — driven primarily by increased labor costs and changes in grant timing.

Raffel told the commission the $3.2 million estimate is intended as a net increase, not a replacement of existing funds, and would be spent over the coming year to create staffing and leadership capacity in three priority areas: decarbonizing buildings (about $2.4 million in the year‑one estimate), accelerating transportation electrification, and…