Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget Addbacks And Cbo Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee hearing: service providers urge Mayor to release Board‑approved add‑backs; Mayor's office cites long‑term fiscal risk
Summary
At a lengthy hearing, the People's Budget Coalition and more than two dozen providers urged the Mayor to release Board‑approved add‑back funds for community programs, warning of layoffs and service cuts; the Mayor's Budget Director said certain funds are being held due to one‑time funding and long‑term structural deficits, and the Mayor will revisit releases after November revenue and ballot results.
At a multi‑hour hearing on Sept. 25, the Budget and Finance Committee considered mayoral instructions that placed a set of Board‑approved community‑based organization add‑backs in a mayoral reserve. The hearing drew broad testimony from advocacy coalitions, service providers and affected residents pressing the Mayor's office to release funding allocated by the Board.
The People's Budget Coalition (Anya Worley Zigman) opened the hearing by listing programs she said were jeopardized by mayoral holds and cuts, including children's services, workforce development, tenant outreach and the sugary drinks tax grant programs. "The mayor's budget cut $150,000,000 from critical programs," she said, and she flagged roughly $50,000,000 of restored add‑backs they wanted released immediately to prevent layoffs and program closures.
Speakers representing GLIDE, Larkin Street Youth Services, Eviction Defense Collaborative, the Supportive Housing Providers Network and many others described concrete harms from delayed releases: layoffs of program staff, cuts to after‑school and summer youth programming, reductions in tenant counseling and emergency rental assistance, threatened cultural events and layoffs at smaller neighborhood organizations. For example, providers said some organizations had already started laying off staff (one speaker said Hunters Point Family had laid off 20 people) and warned that some programs could be gone if funds are not distributed soon.
Mayor's Budget Director Sofia Kittler responded that the Mayor faced long‑term fiscal risks, including a projected structural deficit that could grow to $800 million (and up to about $1.1 billion by FY28), and that the administration was prioritizing core direct services while seeking to avoid the midyear reversals of funding that had occurred last year. Kittler said a limited set of releases has occurred (for example small releases from sugary drinks tax and some workforce contracts), that some programs are under active review, and that the administration planned to revisit grant spending in December after November revenue updates and ballot outcomes.
Committee Chair Supervisor Connie Chan pressed the Mayor's office on whether a "balanced" FY24–25 budget meant the funds were available; Kittler said the budget relied in part on one‑time resources and that the Mayor must manage longer‑term structural exposures. Chan characterized the withholding of funds as a discretionary choice and warned she will consider legislative tools to compel releases if necessary. The committee voted to "hear and file" the record of the hearing.
No final policy changes were made at the committee level; the hearing produced public documentation of the dispute between providers and the Mayor's office over timing and conditions for releasing funds the Board had restored during the budget process.
