Breed Signs $15.9 Billion SF Budget That Boosts Police Funding, Cuts From Public Health

Mayor London Breed officially signed San Francisco’s new $15.9 billion budget on Thursday morning after the city faced a deficit of hundreds of millions of dollars and looming fears over its expansion.

The spending plan for the next two fiscal years uses one-time funds and expense reductions, including from public health programs, to help close a $789 million deficit. In the coming five years, that deficit is expected to increase to $1.3 billion, according to city projections.

Among the budget’s significant outlays are a minimum wage increase to $25 an hour for city workers and an investment of $45 million to outreach and drug treatment programs coming from settlements the city has reached with drug companies and pharmacies over their roles in the overdose crisis. The spending plan sustains funding for programs addressing homelessness.

It also includes increases to law enforcement and funding for downtown revitalization — both key areas of Breed’s reelection campaign amid a contentious race. Her proposal included that new and existing entry-level police employees would receive nearly 8% salary increases, and incentives would be added to attract and retain early and mid-career officers to stem a staffing shortage. The plan also allocated $3.7 million over two years for new surveillance cameras and data collection following the passage of Measure E in March.

Supervisor Connie Chan criticized the budget’s reliance on one-time funds, which include reserve money and revenue from various ballot measures, to close the gap, saying the move is not a sustainable way to finance the city.

“It is always a moment for celebration when we can finish out the [budget] process every year; this is not that moment,” she told KQED. “This time around, we know that this budget can really only last us for the next six months. It literally was stitched together by the mayor just to get us through the next six months. We know that when the new year comes, San Franciscans have some tough choices in front of us that we have to make.”

Cuts to the Department of Public Health, which could affect funding for oral health care and food security and nutrition programs, will begin in fiscal year 2025, Chan said. Last December, Breed also asked city departments to make 10% cuts to reduce the shortfall.

In June, the budget and legislative analyst’s office suggested cutting $750,000 from the $15 million that Breed’s budget proposal set aside for the Downtown Recovery Program, which aims to bring activations, increase safety and fill storefront vacancies in the Union Square and Yerba Buena neighborhoods.

The office’s memo also included a line item noting that whether to fund the Downtown Recovery Program at all was a “policy matter” up to the Board of Supervisors. The supervisors voted 10–1 to approve the budget, with Supervisor Dean Preston as the lone vote against it.

Chan said the downtown funds fell under the “nice to have” but not necessary category.

“The question is, at a moment like this, when we’re facing a ballooning budget deficit, can we afford it? The answer is no, we cannot,” she said.

“We’re basically spending more than what we’re taking in overall, and we continue to use deep into our reserves to balance the budget, and that is not the way to go. … Pretty much, we’re out of money and out of options at the moment. We’re running out of options.”