Planning Department presents balanced FY2010-11 budget plan with deep cuts and fee options

San Francisco Planning Department Director Ram on Feb. 11 presented a proposed balanced FY2010-11 budget to the Planning Commission that staff said would total about $22,000,000 and require substantial reductions compared with the current year.

"This is actually a year that is actually fairly substantially worse than last year," Director Ram said, explaining that one-time solutions used in the prior year are gone and that the department must make trade-offs among services. Staff told commissioners the department faces roughly $2 million in reduced resources and that the proposed package would be balanced through a combination of labor concessions, modest fee changes, reduced work orders and grants.

Why it matters: Commissioners were asked to provide guidance this week and to vote next week because the department must submit a recommended budget to the mayor on Feb. 22. The proposal would preserve core permitting functions while reducing other activities and relies in part on fee adjustments and penalty revenue to limit cuts to code enforcement and the historic preservation survey program.

Key facts and staff proposals

- Total proposed budget shown to the Commission: about…