Supervisors amend interim budget, trim police/fire/sheriff increases to restore human services

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors— Budget and Finance Committee on June 10 voted to amend interim appropriation legislation, reducing general-fund increases for the police, fire and sheriff departments and creating a stabilization reserve intended to add back funding for agencies facing steep service cuts.

The committee approved a motion by Committee Chair Supervisor John Avalos to bring the three public-safety departments down to a roughly 7.1% average reduction and transfer about $82 million from their proposed increases into a reserve to partially restore programs in the Department of Public Health, the Human Services Agency, Recreation & Parks and related violence-prevention and shelter services. Avalos said the amendment was intended to "share the pain" more equitably across city government.

Nani Coloretti, the mayor—s budget director, had presented the mayor—s balancing plan earlier in the meeting, describing a roughly $438 million shortfall driven by revenue declines, one-time fund uses and the leveraging of federal stimulus and FMAP Medicaid funds. Coloretti outlined proposed department reductions, contracting proposals (including contracting some jail health services and custodial/engineering work) and a proposed cigarette-litter abatement fee of about $5 million.

City Controller Ben Rosenfield also briefed the committee on the state budget outlook and the controller—s revenue letter, which flagged major state-side risks including proposed elimination of CalWORKs and possible borrowing of local property taxes. Rosenfield said the city might need to consider large local backfills if key state programs were cut and warned that state cash-flow problems could delay payments to the city.

The motion drew strong public comment: more than a hundred residents, service providers and union members urged the board to protect frontline health and human services, rescue rec-center programming for youth and preserve drop-in centers and homelessness services. Speakers representing SEIU, Central City Hospitality House, the Coalition on Homelessness and other groups warned that the mayor—s proposed allocations concentrated cuts on vulnerable populations while increasing support for public-safety budgets. "These sacrifices seem to be coming entirely from the most vulnerable and the people who serve them," said Rafael Mandelmann of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club.

Supervisor David Campos, who supported the amendment, criticized the mayor—s earlier presentation as overly rosy and said the committee needed to insist on a more equitable distribution of cuts and to press the mayor to pursue concrete revenue options. Several supervisors, including Supervisor Bevan Dufty and Supervisor Carmen Chu, expressed caution about the operational impacts of the proposed reductions in public-safety staffing; both said deeper analysis would be required before committing to specific layoffs or station closures.

After debate, the committee approved the amendment by roll call, 3-2, and forwarded the amended interim AAO and interim annual salary ordinance with the recommendation of the committee to the full Board. The committee continued the redevelopment interim budget item for additional information about the Mexican Museum funding plan and moved the Treasure Island interim budget forward with a recommendation.

The controller—s revenue letter, presented later in the meeting, identified more than $160 million in one-time revenues and recommended reserving about $183 million of potential appropriations pending confirmation of bond sales, taxi-medallion proceeds and other contingent revenues. The controller called the state budget the largest unknown and warned the committee that additional state actions could materially increase the city—s gap.

The full Board of Supervisors will consider the amended interim measures next Tuesday; the committee—s action does not finalize hiring or layoff decisions but directs city fiscal policy in the short term while the Board conducts a full budget review and negotiation with the mayor—s office.