Controller: Mayor's $6.5 billion budget broadly reasonable but growing costs and revenue risks loom

Controller Ben Rosenfield told the Budget & Finance Committee on June 16 that the mayor's proposed fiscal year 2008-09 budget is "reasonable given the current economic trends" but carries several risks that could create shortfalls.

Rosenfield said the proposed all-funds budget totals about $6.5 billion, a 7.3 percent increase from the prior year, with a general fund portion of roughly $3.05 billion (about a 4.4 percent increase). He said most of the revenue growth is coming from property and local taxes and strong hotel tax receipts, but cautioned that expenditures are growing faster than revenues largely because of wage and benefit costs and mandated spending increases.

"Annualizations of positions added in the prior year, closed MOU costs and benefit cost increases are roughly equal to the growth in general fund revenues," Rosenfield…