The Facts

San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a $16.9 billion budget on July 21, according to Alyce McFadden at the Chronicle.

The budget relies on two main elements:

• About $300 million in recurring changes: Roughly half comes from higher future tax and public-health revenue. The rest comes from lower staffing, contract, grant, and operating costs, according to the Controller’s analysis.
• $696.1 million in one-time money: This includes $505 million in unused money carried forward from prior years and $191.1 million from reserves. Most will be used in the second year, according to the revenue plan.

The $300 million and $696.1 million figures measure different things. The first reduces the annual mismatch between revenue and spending. The second is temporary funding used across the two-year budget.

About $80 million of the recurring savings is supposed to come from future staffing reductions, but the affected positions have not been identified, according to an S&P credit review.

The Board also restored $28.6 million for Free City College for residents, youth jobs, health care, senior services, and other programs.

The Context

Federal funding changes represented $306.3 million of the original $642.8 million two-year deficit. Revenue was expected to grow slowly because remote work continued to weaken downtown activity and commercial property values, while tourism remained below its pre-pandemic strength. Salaries, benefits, and voter-mandated spending continued to rise.

The GrowSF Take

A stronger economy and real spending reductions helped, but one-time money only buys time. City Hall must complete the promised staffing reductions and control recurring costs while ensuring departments are delivering what residents are paying for.