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Supervisors review compiled budget priorities as analyst promises consolidated draft
Summary
The Board's Budget & Finance Committee heard a presentation from Legislative Analyst Gable Cabrera on draft budget priorities collected from all 11 supervisors and asked staff to consolidate and post a revised draft for public review before continuing the item next week.
Supervisor John Avalos, chair of the Budget & Finance Committee, called the April 15, 2009 meeting to review the Board's budget priorities and asked Legislative Analyst Gable Cabrera to present a draft compiled from submissions by all 11 supervisors.
Gable Cabrera, who said his office contacted each supervisorial office to request three macro priorities and five actionable items, summarized ten major policy areas that supervisors identified: improving city administration and operations; bolstering the local economy and small business support; funding job creation and workforce development; investing in community development; public education funding; protecting the social safety net; maintaining and expanding affordable housing; preserving recreational programs; public safety and violence prevention; and improving public transportation. Cabrera said the document is meant to provide "actionable guidance" to the mayor's budget staff and to inform the Board's own decision making during the budget process.
Supervisors praised the effort but asked for changes. Supervisor David Campos urged broader language for culturally competent small-business support (to include women- and minority-owned businesses in addition to the reference to Asian-owned businesses) and recommended consolidating duplicate items. Supervisor Carmen Chu and others raised concerns about the level of specificity for proposals such as centralizing IT functions and centralizing workforce programs, noting potential operational and funding consequences. Cabrera acknowledged variations in the length and language of submissions and said his office had summarized and added detail where necessary while preserving the original priorities.
Chair Avalos proposed a practical path forward: Cabrera would consolidate comments and produce a refined draft for the committee and the public to review. "We'll have the draft document that you presented today and the document that we've generated from that that's consolidated," Avalos said, asking that both be posted by Friday so the public can compare the two versions. The committee agreed to continue the item to the following week to allow public review and further amendments.
The committee did not take a final vote on the priorities; Cabrera said he would incorporate the supervisors' edits, follow up with original requesters where necessary, and prepare an updated document for the committee's next meeting.
