Budget committee reallocates DPH reserves to avert layoffs, votes to continue items to special meeting

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors Budget & Finance Committee on Nov. 16 voted to amend and consolidate supplemental appropriations for the Department of Public Health and change the source of funding so $7,953,732 comes from departmental reserves rather than the uncertified general fund reserve.

Chair Supervisor John Avalos, who presided over the special session, said the goal was to ‘‘make sure that we can live to the promise of that program and we can live to the promise that people expect of our city services’’ and to avoid disruptive layoffs while awaiting state funds.

Controller Ben Rosenfield presented the amendment, telling the committee the combined supplemental would total $7,953,732 and that the reappropriation would draw on reserves the full board previously placed on the budget-and-finance committee, including $11.9 million set aside in the Department of Public Health salary and fringe line. ‘‘What Supervisor Daley has moved here today is in lieu of use of the general fund reserve,’’ Rosenfield said, adding the proposal is allowable under the charter but that federal approval and state allocation steps for AB 1383 remain incomplete and therefore could not be certified as a funding source now.

Sponsor Supervisor Daly said the measures affect patient care and workplace equity. ‘‘This is an important issue, in terms of, healthcare provision and patient care,’’ Dalton said, urging a risk‑averse approach to avoid layoffs while the city awaits anticipated state Medicaid-match funds.

Public comment was extensive. Health department employees, union representatives and community members warned that proposed layoffs and deskilling of certified nursing assistants and clerical staff would harm services and disproportionately affect people of color and women. Edward Schauer, an SEIU representative, said the proposed cuts were ‘‘a discriminatory layoff’’ and urged the committee to consider alternatives. Several speakers cited department figures that roughly 96% of those affected are people of color and about 79% are women.

Supervisor Carmen Chu dissented on the amendment, arguing it ‘‘doesn’t make sense’’ to take programmed salary dollars from one part of the department to pay salaries in another without clear plans for what positions or programs would be cut. ‘‘We don’t know the details of what’s going to be cut,’’ Chu said, and she recorded the lone ‘no’ vote in the roll call.

The roll call recorded Supervisor Ross Mercarini and Chair Avalos voting ‘‘aye’’ and Supervisor Chu ‘‘no.’’ After passage of the amendment the committee agreed to continue items 1–5 to a special Budget & Finance Committee meeting next Tuesday at 12:25 p.m. to allow time to finalize documents before sending the items to the full board.

The committee’s action reassigns the immediate source of the supplemental appropriation but does not increase overall city spending; Rosenfield said the change is a reallocation of appropriated department reserves consistent with charter constraints. He cautioned that state and federal approvals tied to AB 1383 and AB 188 remain steps that must be completed before those revenues can be certified as backfill for used reserves. The committee’s continuation was intended to allow staff to incorporate the amendment language and the Controller’s suggested release of $8 million into the amendment text.

Next procedural step: the special Budget & Finance Committee meeting next Tuesday, after which the amended supplemental would be eligible for consideration by the full Board of Supervisors.