In City Hall on Wednesday, a long night of negotiations led by the Board of Supervisors unfolded as they finalized next year’s budget, which went on until around 2 am Thursday.
Mayor Daniel Lurie had previously announced a potentially drastic cut of 1,400 jobs in the upcoming budget cycle, most of which were positions that remained unfilled.
However, the plan included around 150 filled positions proposed for elimination, marking the largest layoff of city workers since Gavin Newsom’s administration over a decade ago.
Thanks to negotiations held on Wednesday, the budget committee succeeded in reducing the number of cuts from 150 to around 100, and eventually to nearly 40 jobs by identifying cost-saving alternatives.
According to reports from the Chronicle, the supervisors managed to secure concessions from the mayor that preserved 57 jobs, while also restoring funds for vital initiatives such as homelessness prevention, housing subsidies for families living in RVs, and resources dedicated to transitional-age youth.
Although these compromises were made, adjustments to city-funded non-profits are still on the table, leaving the complete financial picture unsettled.
These discussions came in the wake of a protest held by unionized city workers last Tuesday, which resulted in the shutdown of a board meeting.
On Wednesday night, workers gathered outside the chamber chanting, “Hold the line, supervisors, hold the line,” though there was little satisfaction reported among the parties involved by evening’s end.
In a significant adjustment, the Board of Supervisors made a final concession to allow Mayor Lurie the power to reallocate up to $19 million raised from business taxes through the Our City, Our Home program – a measure approved by voters in 2018 via Proposition C.
This decision could be made with only a simple majority vote from the board, prompting dissent from progressive supervisors Jackie Fielder and Shamann Walton.
Fielder made a poignant statement about the dangers of compromising democracy late at night while residents were asleep.
Mayor Lurie had requested the board concede its super-majority veto power in order to facilitate these fund reallocations, with the primary beneficiaries identified as housing (50%), mental health and addiction services (25%), homelessness prevention (15%), and street cleaning (10%).
Supervisor Connie Chan, who leads the Budget Committee, spearheaded the conversations, reassuring her colleagues that the mayor was not receiving all of his demands in the budget agreement.
The committee ultimately reached a unanimous preliminary approval for the budget early Thursday morning, with Mayor Lurie issuing a statement expressing his commitment to addressing the city’s financial challenges.
He noted, “When I took office in January, I inherited a city with so much potential and an historic $800 million budget deficit that was holding us back.
My team got to work, and in just a few months, we worked with the Board of Supervisors and partners across the city to deliver a proposed budget that tackled that deficit head-on and prioritized core services like public safety and clean streets to drive San Francisco’s comeback.”
Lurie remained optimistic, asserting that the final budget would respond to citizens’ needs for a safer, cleaner, and thriving city.
He added, “This budget takes major strides to lay the foundation for our long-term growth—bringing spending closer in line with revenues so we don’t spend money we don’t have, while focusing our resources on providing safe and clean streets, addressing the fentanyl crisis, and advancing our economic recovery.”
The new budget proposals include contentious measures such as new parking fees in Golden Gate Park and increased rates for tennis and pickleball court usage.
With automated speed-camera systems already generating 1,000 warnings daily within their first month, the full impact of these measures on city revenue is yet to be assessed.
The Board is scheduled to convene again on July 9 for any final adjustments, with a vote on the complete budget planned for July 15.
image source from：sfist
