San Francisco DAS approves two-year budget submission, preserves client services amid city shortfall

San Francisco’s Department of Disability and Aging Services (DAS) approved a proposed FY23–24 and FY24–25 budget submission on Feb. 16, 2023, directing staff to submit the plan to the mayor’s office next week. Commissioners voted to forward the budget after presentations from HSA Deputy Director of Finance and Administration Dan Kaplan and DAS Executive Director Kelly Dearman.

Dan Kaplan framed the proposal in the context of a broader city budget gap: “the City has projected a $728,000,000 budget shortfall over the upcoming biennium,” he said, and the mayor’s office has asked agencies to propose 5% reductions in discretionary general funds in the first year and 8% in the second. Kaplan said DAS’s discretionary portion across HSA, DBFS and DAS totals roughly $40,000,000, with a 5% target of about $2,000,000 that the department expects to cover without cutting client benefits, staff positions, or community-based organization contracts.

The approv…