San Francisco has cut $6 million from the city’s budget that was planned for a reparations program for descendants of slaves, part of a series of mid-year spending cuts recommended by Mayor London Breed as the city faces a nearly $500 million deficit over the next three years.
The cuts will impact the city’s reparations office—proposed by officials but yet to be officially established—which will be tasked to implement the recommendations that were presented in July by an advisory committee.
Tasked with overseeing the now unfunded office, the city’s human rights commission stated that its work will continue through using in-house staff, noting that one of the committee’s recommendations is already moving forward to reestablish a heritage center in the city’s Fillmore District, long known for its jazz culture, called the “Harlem of the West.”
“The Human Rights Commission is continuing to move forward [this] and other efforts as identified by the [reparations committee] to remedy the historic harms faced by black communities in San Francisco,” Devi Zinzuvadia, the commission’s public information officer, told The Epoch Times by email on Dec. 7.
During a San Francisco County Board of Supervisors meeting in September, some supervisors and members of the public questioned the feasibility of the committee’s recommended cash payments and other benefits given the city’s fiscal reality.
Some critical of the plan suggested that the city can’t afford the recommendations, given its overall $15 billion budget, while reparation costs, just for the first year, are estimated at about $175 billion.
While noting support for reparations, the mayor also released statements earlier this year suggesting that such payments are better handled at the federal level.
With its budget deficit, Ms. Breed recently outlined the cuts to the reparations office along with a series of other mid-year spending cuts.
Totaling more than $75.3 million for the current fiscal year, another $37.5 million in cuts are planned for 2024–25 and $35.5 million the following year, according to a letter the mayor sent to city department heads Dec. 1.
Noting the severity of the city’s deficit, she told officials that further spending reductions are needed.
“I am committed to tackling our city’s many challenges and meeting the needs of our residents, and that will require making difficult tradeoffs,” Ms. Breed wrote. “Much larger cuts will be needed in the months ahead, and that will require more planning and longer discussions we’ll have with you, your staff, and other city stakeholders.”
Cuts are being made based on priority and are designed to leave the city fully functional and capable of providing services to residents, the mayor said.
“My office has reviewed proposals to pause uninitiated programs, eliminate vacant positions, take advantage of new revenues, and to start scaling back programs we can no longer afford or have other sources of funding,” Ms. Breed wrote. “The reductions leave intact basic city services and priorities so we can continue making progress on hiring police officers, expanding shelter beds, advancing behavioral health initiatives, and cleaning up our streets.”
The city controller recently projected revenue declines, which had been anticipated by some economists given the exodus of businesses from San Francisco over the past year.
Other cuts recommended by Ms. Breed include more than $20 million from the city’s department of public health, $18 million to the city’s downpayment assistance loan program, and more than $12 million from the city’s human services agency—tasked with administering benefits to families and communities.
In a board meeting on Dec. 12, the mayor further acknowledged the city’s dire financial situation and urged supervisors to consider the dilemma before making decisions.
“In light of our significant budget deficit, we have to reevaluate and rethink projects,” Ms. Breed said.
In terms of reparations, similar discussions regarding their price tag exist at the state level following California’s reparation task force’s recommendation of approximately $800 billion—more than twice the annual budget—according to economists.
With the Golden State saddled with a $68 billion shortfall, according to a recent report from the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, it remains to be seen what bills lawmakers will introduce in January related to the task force’s proposals.
Representatives for Mayor Breed’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment on deadline.
