Budget panel advances hospital FTE and appropriation ordinances, continues resolution on backfill revenue

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee voted to advance two related ordinances addressing staffing and pay-period adjustments at San Francisco General Hospital and the Department of Public Health, and continued a separate resolution about replenishing the general fund reserve.

Chair Supervisor John Avalos, who opened the special meeting, said he was advancing the measures to address the city’s budget shortfall but emphasized the need for an "egalitarian" approach to cuts across city departments. "I firmly believe... that we have to do it in an egalitarian way, that we are sharing the pain across our city departments," Avalos said, adding he had taken 12 furlough days himself.

The clerk read Item 1 as an "Ordinance appropriating $7,953,732 from the deappropriation of funds from salaries and fringe benefits in the San Francisco General Hospital Fund to add 332.39 full time equivalent (FTE) positions and delete 272.95 FTE positions effective 11/16/2009, add 66.35 FTEs and delete 66.35 FTEs effective 01/01/2010, and release $7,953,732 of salaries and fringe benefits placed on budget and finance committee reserve in the Department of Public Health for fiscal year 02/2010." Item 2 amends the annual salary ordinance to add and delete specified FTEs and adjust pay‑period coverage in the Department of Public Health.

Supervisor McRaeamy, who led debate at the committee, placed the measures in a broader fiscal context and urged a more "surgical and precise" approach to workforce reductions, warning that the city must confront structural budget questions. "We are at a $6,600,000,000 $6,700,000,000 budget," McRaeamy said, calling for a recalibration of workforce size and political formulas.

During the public comment period, Douglas Yet, who identified himself as a San Francisco General Hospital employee of more than 20 years, urged greater fiscal transparency at the Department of Public Health and warned of harms to clerical staff: "it's going to have a lot of negative effects on clerical workers like myself and my coworkers who might lose or have their jobs." Yet also urged a formal fiscal examination of the Department, saying he believed it had not been fully audited.

A motion to move items 1 and 2 with recommendation was made and put to a roll-call vote. Supervisor Carmen Chu recorded a "No" vote; Supervisors Ross Mercarini and John Avalos recorded "Aye." The clerk announced two ayes and one no and declared the motion passed. Committee members agreed items 1 and 2 should go to the full Board of Supervisors this afternoon as committee reports.

On Item 3 — a resolution expressing the Board’s commitment to backfill reductions in the general fund reserve with revenue from "Assembly Bills 13 83 and 188" as read into the record — members agreed to continue the item to the call of the chair for further consideration.

The committee adjourned after completing its actions.