San Francisco Budget and Appropriations Committee Meeting - June 21, 2024
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
San Francisco Budget and Appropriations Committee Meeting - June 21, 2024
The Budget and Appropriations Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors met on Friday, June 21, 2024, to continue hearings on the Mayor's proposed budget for fiscal years 2024-2025 and 2025-2026. The meeting covered department budgets, trailing legislation, and proposed reserve motions. Committee members included Chair Connie Chan, Vice Chair Raphael Mandelman, Supervisor Mirna Melgar, Supervisor Shamann Walton, and President Aaron Peskin.
Consent Calendar
- No consent calendar was considered today. Items acted on at the June 20 meeting (items 5-11 and 14) were referred out and not reconsidered.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Public comment on item 15 (Public Works fee modifications): No speakers appeared. Public comment was closed.
- General public comment on department budgets was deferred to Monday, June 24, 2024.
Discussion Items
- Board of Supervisors Budget Adjustments: The committee approved a motion to increase the Board of Supervisors department budget by $74,000 to restore the legislative expense account, include professional community facilitation services, reclassify attrition savings, provide a 4% COLA to the Budget and Legislative Analyst (BLA), and note LAFCO statutory funding. The motion passed 5-0.
- Mayor's Office Budget: The committee debated a BLA recommendation to delete a vacant mayoral staff position (saving $149,388). The Mayor's office argued the position supports public safety coordination, not solely victim services. The committee rejected the BLA recommendation, allowing the position to remain.
- Ethics Commission Budget: The committee rejected BLA recommendations 1 and 2 (upward substitutions for auditor positions) to allow reclassification of policy analysts to official auditor classifications, but accepted the remaining recommendations to deny other upward substitutions. Discussion emphasized the need for effective audits without adding to the structural deficit.
- Public Works Fee Ordinance (Item 15): The committee heard a presentation on proposed fee increases for permits (averaging 10% CPI adjustments). No public comment. The item was forwarded to the full board with a positive recommendation (5-0).
- Public Defender Budget: The BLA recommended reductions totaling $37,217 and policy recommendations to reject transferring three grant-funded positions (Clean Slate program) to the general fund ($370,195 ongoing). The Public Defender argued these positions are critical for expungements, language access, and reentry services. The committee deferred a decision, adding it to a "giant bucket" of unresolved items.
- Sheriff's Department Budget: The BLA recommended reducing funding for the jail management system ($130,389) and one prisoner transport bus ($350,000). The Sheriff's office emphasized safety and operational needs. The committee accepted the jail management reduction but deferred the bus funding to the unresolved bucket. Chair Chan requested quarterly overtime reports similar to the police department.
- Trailing Legislation: Item 12 (court reservation fees) was continued to the call of the chair due to ongoing negotiations. The committee aims to resolve by June 26.
- Technical Adjustments: The Mayor's Budget Office announced a second round of technical adjustments, including appropriating $50 million annually of Prop J parcel tax for the school district, adjusting MTA's budget, and removing a work order between the city attorney and Board of Supervisors.
Key Outcomes
- Board of Supervisors budget increase approved (5-0).
- Mayor's office position deletion rejected (5-0).
- Ethics Commission upward substitutions partially approved (rejected BLA recs 1&2).
- Public Works fee ordinance forwarded to full board (5-0).
- Public Defender and Sheriff's bus funding deferred to unresolved items.
- Sheriff's jail management system reduction accepted; quarterly overtime reporting required.
- Item 12 (court reservation fees) continued to call of chair.
- Chair Chan proposed three motions for reserves to be considered on June 26:
- Appropriate savings from BLA reductions into a reserve fund with a public hearing in July.
- Place 10% of elected officials and department head salaries on reserve, releasable by budget chair request.
- Place growth in overtime ($32.9 million) and non-personnel services ($24 million) on reserve, releasable after the five-year financial plan and board vote in January 2025.
- Meeting recessed to Monday, June 24, 2024, at 10 a.m.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. The meeting will come to order. Welcome to the June 21st, 2024 meeting of the Budget and Appropriation Committee. I'm Supervisor Connie Chan, Chair of the Committee, and I'm joined by Vice Chair Raphael Mendelman, Supervisors Mirna Melgar and Shaman Walton, and President Aaron Paskin. Our clerk, it's Brent Halipa. I would like to thank uh Eugene Labadia and uh Jamie Averchery for uh from SFGov TV for broadcasting this meeting. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcement? Thank you, Madam Chair. Just to find any reminder to those in attendance to please make sure to sound all cell phones and electronic devices to prevent interruptions to our proceedings. Uh, should you have any documents to be included as part of the file, this should be submitted to myself, the clerk. Public comment will be taken on uh each item on this agenda. When your item of interest comes up in public comment is called, please line up to speak on the west side of the chamber to your right, uh, my left along those curtains, and while not required to provide public comment, we do invite you to fill out a comment card and leave them on the trade uh by the television to your left by the doors. If you wish to be accurately recorded for the minutes, alternatively, you may submit public comment in writing in either of the following ways. Email them to myself, the budget and appropriations committee clerk at B R E N T dot J A L I P A at S F G O V dot O R G. If you submit public comment via email, it will be forwarded to the supervisors and also included as part of the official file. You may also send your written comments via U.S. Postal Service to our office at City Hall 1. Dr. Carlton be good to the place, room 244, San Francisco, California, 94102. And uh the agenda will show that some items may be considered today if left undecided from our June 20th meeting. Items one uh five through eleven and fourteen were acted on and referred out of committee to the full board and will not be considered today. And though items 12 and 13 were opened and left undecided at yesterday's meeting. Public comment was opened and satisfied. And uh with that, madam chair. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Just a reminder that we're continuing our second round of department hearings. The department scheduled to appear today are listed on the agenda. However, if a department agrees to our proposed red reductions, uh, I should say the budget and legislative analysts propose reductions and does not have trailing legislation, they will they have not been required to return. You can find a trailing legislation listed in the agenda. Today we will address item 15. This item will have public comment, but we remind the public to keep your remarks related to the trailer legislation, not overall department budget. We will not have general public comment today. Instead, general public comment that addresses any or all department budget will be heard on Monday, June 24th, starting at 10 a.m. in these chambers. And so with that, um clerk, please call items two through four. Yes, madam chair, item numbers two, three, and four. Consider the mayor's proposed budget for the departments of the city and county for fiscal years 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026. Item number three is the budget and appropriation ordinance appropriating all estimated receipts and all estimated expenditures for departments of the city and county as of June 1st, 2024. And item number four is the annual salary ordinance, enumerating positions in the annual budget and appropriation ordinance, continuing creating or establishing these positions, enumerating and including therein all positions created by charter or state law for which compensations are paid from city and county funds and appropriated in the annual appropriation ordinance. Authorizing appointments or continuation of appointments there too, specifying and fixing the compensations and work schedules thereof and authorizing appointments to temporary positions and fixing compensations therefore. Madam Chair. Thank you. And uh I'm gonna have our budget and legislative analyst uh to walk us through the list of city departments that has uh come to an agreement with us, which means that uh they will not be appearing before us today, with the exception that uh colleagues I have as the San Francisco Police Department to be here just in case for backup and if you have any additional questions. But please, the floor is yours. Good morning, madam chair, members of the committee. Dan Goncher with the budget and legislative analyst office. The list of departments that we um have full agreement with include the city attorney's office, the superior court, the department of elections, uh, the department of emergency management, the department of public works, the fire department, the department of juvenile probation, the department of adult probation, the department of police accountability, the office of uh inspector general, the sheriff's department of accountability, uh the district attorney's office, and the police department. Thank you, Mr.
openpublica.com