Budget and Finance Committee Meeting - November 5, 2025
Budget and Finance Committee Meeting - November 5, 2025
The Budget and Finance Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors met on November 5, 2025, at 18:15 UTC. Chair Supervisor Connie Chan presided, joined by Vice Chair Supervisor Matt Dorsey and Supervisor Danny Souter. Clerk Brent Haliba conducted roll calls and public comment. The committee considered eight items, including resolutions for financial relief, infrastructure grants, lease agreements, and service contracts. Most items were forwarded to the full board with positive recommendation, except item five, which was forwarded without recommendation due to concerns about SFMTA's internal controls.
Consent Calendar
- None explicitly designated; however, items 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 (as amended), and 8 were forwarded to the full board with unanimous positive recommendation.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Item 5 (Mel's Drive-In lease): Matt Worth, counsel for San Francisco CNC (doing business as Mel's Drive-In), expressed support for the lease, emphasizing that the 8% gross revenue rent structure aligns the city with business interests downtown.
- No public speakers appeared for any other agenda items.
Discussion Items
- Item 1: Small Business Rezoning Construction Relief Program – Supervisor Malgar presented amendments to the ordinance to reflect that restaurants have lower profit margins. The committee discussed no further questions. The ordinance was forwarded to the full board with positive recommendation.
- Item 2: Infill Infrastructure Grant (IIG) – $45 million – Robert Baca (MOHCD) presented the resolution to accept state funds for infrastructure improvements at India Basin, Sunnydale Hope SF, and Treasure Island. Vice Chair Dorsey highlighted the need for infrastructure on Treasure Island (over 500 power outages since 1997) and added as co-sponsor. Unanimous positive recommendation.
- Item 3: Tax-Exempt Financing for Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA) – Keith Savini (Controller’s Office) presented the resolution for up to $5 million in revenue obligations to refinance improvements at 2301 Mission Street. No public comments. Unanimous positive recommendation.
- Item 4: Airport Advertising Lease Amendment with Clear Channel – Deanna Voleck (SFO) presented the amendment to add spaces for large sporting events with a 65% revenue share. The BLA noted the existing lease lacked a percentage rent structure, costing the airport $20.6 million in foregone revenue over 10 years. SFO plans to issue an RFP in Q1 2026 for a new contract with percentage rent. Unanimous positive recommendation.
- Item 5: Mel's Drive-In Lease at Fifth and Mission Garage – SFMTA presented a new 5-year lease with an estimated $1.9 million in revenue. The BLA identified 17 other SFMTA leases with undocumented verbal rent abatements during COVID, recommending internal policy improvements. Supervisor Chan expressed concern about the lack of documentation and moved the resolution to the full board without recommendation, though she indicated she would vote in favor. Motion passed 3-0.
- Item 6: Biosolids Management Contract Amendment with LISTEC – The Office of Contract Administration requested a $20.7 million increase (total not to exceed $36.7 million) and a 2-year extension through June 2029. The contract ensures compliance with state law (SB 1383) by diverting 100% of biosolids from landfill. Unanimous positive recommendation.
- Item 7: Jail Food Services Contract with Aramark – The Sheriff’s Office presented a 5-year, $22 million contract with two 2-year renewal options. The BLA recommended aligning option terms with the RFP (one-year options). The committee amended the resolution to change renewal options to one-year and forwarded it with positive recommendation. Chair Chan requested data on the number of incarcerated individuals trained under the SERVSAFE program.
- Item 8: Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant – $654,609 – Mark Powell (SFPD Forensic Services Director) presented the grant to purchase a DART mass spectrometer for drug chemistry and equipment for latent print analysis. Vice Chair Dorsey discussed the potential for harm reduction applications. Unanimous positive recommendation.
Key Outcomes
- Item 1: Forwarded to full board with positive recommendation (3-0).
- Item 2: Forwarded to full board with positive recommendation (3-0).
- Item 3: Forwarded to full board with positive recommendation (3-0).
- Item 4: Forwarded to full board with positive recommendation (3-0).
- Item 5: Forwarded to full board without recommendation (3-0); Supervisor Chan committed to supporting at full board.
- Item 6: Forwarded to full board with positive recommendation (3-0).
- Item 7: Amended to correct renewal options from two-year to one-year terms, then forwarded to full board with positive recommendation (3-0).
- Item 8: Forwarded to full board with positive recommendation (3-0).
- Future Actions: SFMTA will return in January 2026 with the TADS lease and a plan to formalize 15 other leases by April 2026. SFO plans to issue an RFP for airport advertising in Q1 2026.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. Good morning. The meeting will come to order. Welcome to the November 5th, 2025 meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee. I'm Supervisor Connie Chan, Chair of the Committee. I'm joined by Vice Chair Supervisor Matt Dorsey shortly by Supervisor Danny Souter. Our clerk is Brent Haliba. And I would like to thank Seuss Enols from EssexGov TV for broadcasting this meeting. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcement? Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a friendly reminder to those in attendance to please make sure to silence all cell phones and electronic devices to prevent interruptions to our proceedings. Should you have any documents to be included as part of the file, it should be submitted to myself, the clerk. Public comment will be taken on each item on this agenda when your item of interest comes up. And public comment is called. Please line up to speak on the west side of the chamber to your right, 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 tray by the television to your left and 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 finance committee clerk at B R E N T.j. SF G-O-V.org. 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 in City Hall at one. Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett. Place Room 244, San Francisco, California, 94102. And finally, due to our observance of Veterans Day, items acted upon today are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors Agenda of November 18th, unless otherwise stated. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. And again, uh reminding uh everyone, uh general public, um, and welcome, Supervisor, and that um for all the items that have budget and legislative analyst reports. We typically would go to the department for presentation, and then we will go to the budget and legislative analysts for their uh reporting back, and then we can go to comments and questions from this body, and then we'll go to the public comment. And so with that, Mr. Clerk, please call item number one. Yes, item number one is an ordinance amending the administrative code to create the small business rezoning construction relief program to provide financial support, including grants and loans to businesses impacted by construction relating to the city residential rezoning program, uh, adopted in 2025 to 2026, establishing the small business rezoning construction relief fund to receive monies for the program, designating the Office of Small Business and Office of Economic and Workforce Development to administer the fund and the program and promulgate rules and regulations in furtherance of the program and amending the business and tax regulations code to follow to allow taxpayers to designate a portion of their gross receipt taxes for deposit in the fund. Madam Chair. Thank you. And uh we want to welcome uh Supervisor Mirna Malgar to the chamber, and this is an item that actually uh was heard and continue from last week and uh due to substantive amendments that it had to be continued, and uh the floor is yours, Supervisor Malgar. Thank you. Uh Chair Chan. I don't have uh much to add. Uh just to um point out since we did substantive amendments. I hope that you had a chance to review them. Uh the amendments were meant to uh uh reflect the reality that for some small businesses their profit margers margins are shorter because of the nature of their business or overhead is higher, and those business are restaurants uh of which are there are so many uh in our hospitality-based economy in San Francisco. So uh that's it. And uh the I hope that you can support it, and I look forward to the partnership on all these issues. Thank you. I don't see any name on the roster. I do not have additional questions. Uh let's go to public comment on this item.
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