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Mayor's budget office outlines COVID-19 spending; committee chair releases budget principles
Summary
San Francisco's budget director reported departments have spent about $27 million on COVID-19 response so far and that the city expects to spend additional tens of millions up to roughly $100 million over the next month or two for direct health-crisis needs; Chair Sandra Lee Fewer released budget principles to guide upcoming decisions.
Kelly Kirkpatrick, the mayor's budget director, updated the Budget and Finance Committee on April 15 on San Francisco's COVID-19 related spending and potential state allocations and urged continued reporting and transparency.
Kirkpatrick told the committee that departments have expended about $27,000,000 to date for direct COVID-response costs, roughly $16,000,000 of which is staffing and benefits. She said the city anticipates spending additional sums over the next month or two for direct health crisis staffing and operational needs and that departments are positioning costs to be eligible for FEMA reimbursement where applicable. Kirkpatrick said the state has outlined a package of emergency relief funding; the governor described roughly $1,000,000,000 in appropriations with allocations under discussion, and San Francisco's share of one homeless-aid pot was described as $6,000,000 of a $100,000,000 statewide allocation.
Supervisors asked for clarification about whether the $27,000,000 already accounted for includes regular payroll for staff redeployed to emergency response; Kirkpatrick said much of the amount represents existing city staff who have been deployed to DOCs and EOCs and that the administration will work to disaggregate existing payroll versus additional staffing to assist FEMA reimbursement and reporting.
After the update Chair Sandra Lee Fewer read and released budget principles she said should guide the next months of committee work. The priorities include inclusion of stakeholders; budget transparency and public access, especially for COVID-19 expenditures and reimbursements; leveraging external resources such as state/federal relief and private donations; protecting services relied upon by vulnerable residents; protecting public-sector employment and requiring equity analysis for any staffing or service reductions; and delaying new legislation that would impact the general fund until it can be considered as part of the 2020 budget process.
Chair Fewer moved to continue the budget-process hearing to the call of the chair; the committee approved the motion by roll call (Walton, Mandelman, Ronan and Chair Fewer recorded aye) and the item was continued.
