San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie doubled down Tuesday on the move to eliminate hundreds of city positions in order to help mitigate the city’s projected budget deficit.
“The steps we have taken, let me reiterate, are incredibly painful,” Lurie said at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. “But they are necessary to continue the work we have been doing to manage taxpayer dollars responsibly, deliver the best possible services and set up our city for a long, lasting recovery.”
San Francisco is facing a looming structural deficit of nearly $650 million that has been compounded by federal and state spending cuts. The five-year shortfall projection is $1 billion, according to the city Controller’s Office.
One of the ways Lurie is trying to close the deficit is by proposing layoffs for about 500 city employees in the upcoming budget.
Last week, 127 city workers were given layoff notices, a spokesperson for the mayor confirmed.
“There’s no doubt that these decisions are painful. These are city employees that work hard every day to make our city better,” Lurie said. “But at the same time, as we look at a budget deficit rising to $1 billion with significant federal and state cuts, we have a choice, take action now or be forced to do twice as much in the coming years.”
However, there has been progress at closing the projected shortfall.
In December, the city Controller’s Office projected a near $1 billion budget deficit for the upcoming two fiscal years. But last month, the Controller’s Office issued an updated report that brought the projection down to $643 million. The report also projected a structural deficit of $1 billion over five fiscal years.
“The steps we have taken, let me reiterate, are incredibly painful. But they are necessary to continue the work we have been doing to manage taxpayer dollars responsibly …”
SF Mayor Daniel Lurie
Supervisor Chyanne Chen questioned at the meeting whether mid-year layoffs are still necessary given the improvements.
“We are experiencing exigent circumstances between our local budget deficit and uncertainty with funding at the state and federal level,” she said. “But we’re also seeing momentum in a positive direction.”
Lurie responded, saying that layoffs are still on the table.
“We are not out of the woods,” he said. “Our economic recovery is still extremely fragile. We still have a five-year structural deficit that will rise to $1 billion if we do nothing alongside potential additional federal and state cuts.”
Chen also asked if preparing layoff notices mid-year is appropriate, questioning if it is necessary to make layoffs now before the Board approves the budget.
Lurie pushed back, stressing the urgency to make cuts now instead of waiting until the Board reviews the budget proposal next month.
“This is a hard budget, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise,” he said.
