SAN FRANCISCO MAYOR DANIEL LURIE signed a $15.9 billion city budget for the next two fiscal years.
The budget closes an $817.5 million deficit. It preserves funding for the police department, fire department, District Attorney’s Office and Public Defender’s Office and sets aside $400 million in reserves to prepare for future financial challenges amidst federal funding uncertainty.
The budget allocates the most funding for public works, transportation and commerce at $6.23 billion as well as community health at $3.38 billion. It also devotes about $3 billion to human welfare and neighborhood development, $2.22 billion to public protection and $1.68 billion to general city responsibilities.
Last month, the budget advanced unanimously from the Budget Committee. This month, the Board of Supervisors passed it with a 10-to-1 vote, with District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder dissenting.
“While programs serving immigrants, families, BIPOC and LGBTQ communities were gutted, law enforcement walked away with more money,” Fielder said prior to the Board’s vote. “I will be voting no with disappointment, with frustration, but also with clarity about the kind of city we are fighting to become.”
Also last month, the People’s Budget Coalition, an alliance of more than 150 community organizations and unions in San Francisco, gathered at City Hall to rally against the budget plan.
“San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is pushing a city budget that devastates poor and working families. The nearly $16 billion budget cuts Muni lines, government jobs, slashes homelessness services and so much more,” the coalition said in an Instagram video.
Lurie defended the budget as a plan focused on public safety, clean streets and support for those struggling with homelessness and addiction.
“San Franciscans were ready for change. Families were questioning whether to stay in San Francisco. Residents had lost trust that city government could deliver,” he said at the budget signing ceremony Thursday. “I’m proud of this budget and what it delivers for San Francisco; not because the decisions were easy, but because this group of leaders was willing to make the tough calls.”