The mayor unveiled her budget in May, which proposed spending $15.9 billion for 2024–25 and $15.5 billion for 2025–26.
The new spending aims to “restore staffing to pre-pandemic levels and create a fully staffed department within three years,” Ms Breed said. It would also allow for a 7.75 percent pay raise for officers over the next two years.
She also highlighted her mission to revitalize downtown by using city funds to support the creation of 100 new stores and waive city fees for brand new businesses.
Another goal is to make homelessness in San Francisco “rare, brief, and a one-time occurrence.” Ms. Breed proposes that the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing receive $846.7 million in 2024–25, nearly a 20 percent increase from the year before.
The Department of Early Childhood, however, sees a reduction in the mayor’s proposed budget. Its $336.5 million for 2024–25 would be a 2.6 percent cut from the year before, which the mayor attributes to “reductions in various revenue sources.” The department distributes child care vouchers to low- and moderate-income families and funds the construction and remodeling of child care facilities.
The mayor’s plan presents several ideas for balancing the budget, including “fee increases across departments” and holding non-critical job positions vacant.
She said the committee would reject recommendations for spending in areas such as child care, sexual harassment prevention and the public defender’s office.
“It’s not just about one-time spending, it’s structural spending,” Ms. Chan said, discussing the impact of continued spending commitments as the city faces a large deficit.
Some residents are also skeptical of Ms. Breed’s fiscal plan.
“Our budget is probably higher, per capita, than any city in the world,” former San Francisco Supervisor Tony Hall told The Epoch Times on June 25.
He said revenue is down in San Francisco despite a “very high tax base” and “a lot of revenue” traditionally coming in from the city and county together. San Francisco is by far the largest city in San Francisco County, which also includes Alameda and three other small cities.
Ms. Breed’s budget plan acknowledges that tax revenue is down, a lingering effect of the pandemic. “The revenue outlook,” she says in her plan, “is closely tied to the recovery of sectors most impacted or transformed” during that time, including tourism and office-using industries.
But Mr. Hall, said, the problem is spending.
“Before you can fix the problem you have to know what it is,” he said.
Mr. Hall said that the only way to fix the looming deficit will be to approach it “in a way that requires a lot less money being spent than what we’re spending now.”
