Budget panel continues consideration of $5.0 million reserve release for city HR and payroll system

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee on Wednesday continued consideration of a $5,000,523 request to release reserve funds for a new city human resources and payroll system after the department’s director said staff still needs to supply detailed material to the budget analyst.

Chair Aaron Peskin opened the discussion after the clerk introduced the item as a request from the Department of Human Resources to release $5,000,523 for implementation of “the city new human resource management and payroll system.” Callahan, introduced in the hearing as the department’s new director of human resources, told the committee, “We would like the opportunity to prepare all of the detailed information the budget analyst needs to complete the analysis and have not been able to complete that as yet,” and asked that the committee move the item to a future meeting so staff can provide the requested detail.

Peskin and other committee members pressed for clarity on the program’s growth in costs. Peskin noted that the committee needs to understand “how this project has grown from $20,000,000 to 36 or $41,000,000 and how you’re going to fund that.” Callahan said the department needs additional time to collect and present the tracking and cost data the analyst requested.

With no public comment, the committee continued the item to the call of the chair to allow the department and the budget analyst to complete the requested analysis. No formal motion text or vote tally was recorded in the transcript.