By Calvin Welch, HANC Board
This month HANC will focus its general membership meeting on the city budget. Three guests will join us to go through the key issues presented by this budget: Supervisor Budget Chair Connie Chan from District 1, Debbi Lerman, Director of the San Francisco Human Services Network, a coalition of some 50 faith and community based non-profit health and human services providers, and Tim Redmond, Editor and Founder of 48 Hills, who has reported on San Francisco politics, including budget politics for some 40 years.
In March, a Joint Report from the Controller, the Supervisors’ Budget Analyst and the Mayor’s Budget Director reported to both the Mayor and the Board that the City's revenue outlook had deteriorated from its initial January report of this year’s projected budget deficit of some $200 million to $290 million and the projected five year deficit to a whopping $1.3 Billion . Last year the Joint Report estimated an $80 million surplus for this year when the City passed its current $13.8 billion budget.
The expected shortfall was reported BEFORE the Mayor proposed and the Supervisors passed a$27 million supplement the Police Department’s current $713 million allocation to cover police overtime AND a new labor contract that will cost the City an additional $167 million over the next 3 years, providing a 10% increase in pay for the police. For every other department the Mayor has asked for a 10% CUT.
