The Facts:

Mayor Daniel Lurie ordered departments to find $400 million in ongoing cuts by reducing services, eliminating vacancies, and limiting hiring to help close a $936 million two-year deficit. His first $15.9 billion budget already closed a $782 million gap largely through nonprofit grant reductions and limited layoffs, as detailed in his balanced budget proposal. Lurie partly blames new federal funding reductions under President Trump’s "One Big Beautiful Bill" Act, which City Hall estimates will cost San Francisco about $220 million.

The Context:

San Francisco’s deficit is structural: for years, spending has outpaced recurring revenue while one-time fixes and unfilled positions papered over the gap. A recent joint report on the city’s finances warns that lawsuits, slow downtown recovery, and rising costs will keep shortfalls high even as some revenues rebound. Labor unions and nonprofits, who mounted protests against earlier cuts, are likely to protest further reductions to services or jobs.

The GrowSF Take:

Facing the problem honestly is welcome, and City Hall should continue its smart targeting: eliminating vacant and duplicative roles, consolidating programs, and demanding measurable results from every dollar. City Hall should also face the reality of overgrown staffing: City Hall employment has grown almost 30% since 2005, while the population has been roughly flat. Nobody wants people to lose their jobs, but the role of government isn't to provide life-long jobs, it's to provide good services. And when there's not enough money to go around, we should all ask ourselves: do we want to cut services, or City Hall jobs?