Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Comptroller warns of $1.1B–$1.7B multi‑year shortfall; mayor's office delays budget timeline and orders spending pauses
Summary
Comptroller Ben Rosenfield and the mayor's budget office told supervisors the city faces a steep revenue decline from COVID‑19 and will update projections in April; departments were instructed to pause nonessential hiring and spending while staff develop a rebalancing plan and an interim status‑quo budget.
Comptroller Ben Rosenfield told the Budget & Appropriations Committee on April 1 that the city's finances will be "significantly" affected by COVID‑19, with two modeled scenarios producing a cumulative two‑year shortfall between about $1.1 billion (optimistic) and $1.7 billion (pessimistic). Rosenfield said immediate losses in the current fiscal year are driven by hotel, transfer and sales taxes and that next fiscal year the general fund could see tax revenue declines in a range of roughly $330 million to $580 million depending on the scenario.
Rosenfield noted the city has reserves that can blunt the shock: roughly $590 million in rainy‑day and stabilization reserves and a $150 million general reserve. "They are built for this sort of a moment,"…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
