Budget committee advances mayor's two-year budget framework and approves interim ordinances

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors Budget & Finance Committee on Wednesday advanced the mayor's proposed two-year budget framework and approved interim appropriation and salary ordinances so city departments can continue operating while the full budget review proceeds.

Kate Howard, the mayor's budget director, told the committee the total budget is about $7.9 billion in each of the two years under consideration, with a general fund around $4 billion and modest staffing increases driven largely by Affordable Care Act implementation. "The budget this year is growing to $7,900,000,000," Howard said, and the proposals include new positions to enroll more residents in Medi-Cal and pay-as-you-go capital investments that rise in the second year.

Controller Ben Rosenfield summarized his office's revenue letter, calling the mayor's revenue estimates "reasonable" while flagging two major risks: state and federal budget actions and federal sequestration. Rosenfield said the state's proposed realignment clawback could be about $300 million statewide and estimated San Francisco's share at roughly $15 million to $17 million, and he cautioned that transfer-tax receipts (which have been volatile) remain a large source of uncertainty.

Budget analyst Harvey Rose recommended approving the interim ordinances with the caveat that the committee and the Budget Office will analyze interim position exceptions and report back. Rose noted the mayor requested exceptions for 47.92 FTE general-fund positions and eight non-general-fund positions; his office will review and recommend any disapprovals in a report to the committee next week.

The committee approved the interim budget and interim salary ordinances (Items 4'7) on a motion taken without opposition and agreed to consider revisions informed by Rose's forthcoming analysis. Committee members and staff emphasized the administration's effort to strengthen reserves (a policy to grow the general reserve toward 2% over several years), step up capital and street-resurfacing funding, and close a structural shortfall at the Department of Public Health. Howard said the mayor's proposal includes an additional $40 million in general-fund support in year two for road resurfacing and roughly $42.8 million in new housing trust-fund money.

Supervisors pressed departments on specific areas to be monitored during hearings: police minimum staffing levels (not expected to be met in year one), the Department of Public Health's structural shortfall and a proposed year-two RFP for certain behavioral-health services, and the consequences of federal and state funding changes on HIV/AIDS and CDC prevention programs. Howard said the mayor's budget backfills about $4 million of Ryan White HIV/AIDS funding losses in the first year and that a remaining gap was identified in human services funding.

Public commenters raised localized concerns tied to the budget process. Peter Warfield of the Library Users Association urged the committee to preserve evening hours and book budgets at branches; representatives of community organizations, home-care advocates and neighborhood youth programs described demand for funding to preserve or expand essential services.

Next steps: budget analyst reports and departmental hearings will continue over the coming weeks; the committee asked staff to return with analyses of position-exception requests and the administration's year-two solutions before final actions.