San Francisco Chronicle, June 18, 2024
As San Francisco faces severe budget cuts to address a huge deficit, one city supervisor wants to cut her own paycheck and those of other city leaders to save money that would go into a rainy day fund.
Supervisor Connie Chan, chair of the city’s Budget and Appropriations Committee, told the Chronicle on Tuesday she intends to ask Mayor London Breed, her fellow city supervisors, other elected leaders and city department heads to cut their pay by 10%.
Chan wants to put the savings into a new reserve fund she said would give the city “room to breathe” as it seeks to cut costs to reduce a nearly $790 million budget deficit over the next two fiscal years. The fund would give the city more reserves in the event of unforeseen spending. The Richmond District supervisor said the measure could raise about $1.5 million, which is a drop in the bucket compared with the city’s deficit.
But Chan told the Chronicle she intends to announce further board actions in the coming weeks to pump money into the proposed fund, with the goal of preventing cuts in the future.
“If we’re going to ask our city workers to do more with less, we (elected officials) must lead by example,” Chan said. “We need to understand that we’re in a dire situation, and that means everyone must contribute. We should start with us.”
Over the past week, Chan and other supervisors picked apart Breed’s plan to close the projected deficit, criticizing her proposed funding cuts to programs like rental assistance, education, community ambassadors and other services.
Chan said her plan to set up a rainy day fund will help prevent future “draconian spending cuts.”
Breed last month proposed closing the projected deficit through a mix of funding cuts and redirecting revenue, but Chan, as well as the city controller’s office, criticized some of the budget reductions as one-time moves that will do little to address the ongoing structural deficit.
The mayor’s proposed budget does not include pay cuts for employees or layoffs, though it would limit hiring.
Last year city supervisors and the mayor battled it out until the wee hours of the morning to come up with a new budget, which also relied heavily on one-time funds and did not address the structural overspending.
San Francisco leaders are some of the highest paid public officials in the country, with Breed making a $350,000 salary, the highest among California mayors. The city’s 11 supervisors each make about $170,000, while positions like treasurer, controller and assessor-recorder sometimes can make more than the mayor.
That means Chan and her other colleagues would forgo collecting a little less than $20,000 a year, or about $1,600 a month.
Chan’s proposal comes after Breed recently struck a deal with public sector unions to increase pay for city workers by 13% over three years and set the minimum wage for a city employee at $25 an hour. That deal increased city costs.
Breed’s office declined to comment because it hasn’t received a proposal from Chan yet.
Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who described himself as “the poorest member of the Board of Supervisors,” told the Chronicle he’ll support Chan’s proposal even if it means giving up thousands of dollars a year.
“It’s hard to argue in good conscience not doing this as we’re asking a lot of people to make sacrifices,” Dorsey said. “Sharing the pain is a valid point, and something I can support.”
But Supervisor Shamann Walton, who questioned whether he was “the poorest person on the board,” told the Chronicle he cannot afford the cut.
“I do not support 10% reduction for the Board of Supervisors’ salaries,” Walton said. “I am proud that we have not cut city employees during this process. We are all trying to survive in this expensive city.”
Supervisor Hillary Ronen was similarly critical of Chan’s proposal.
“This is silly,” she said in a text. “I’m not sure earning less than my legislative aides to save $1 million dollars in a $15.9 billion budget is going to solve anything. Meanwhile, we are way behind the salaries of Supervisors in many Bay Area counties and we are unique in performing two roles as the county Supervisor and City Council.”
On Tuesday, the budget and legislative analyst came out with its budget reduction recommendations to rein in city spending, including potential cost savings not included in the mayor’s budget proposal.
One recommendation that already upset business leaders is to gut the mayor’s $15 million Downtown Core Recovery Project proposal. The project proposal includes money for free parking for downtown visitors, 24/7 patrol of Union Square and Yerba Buena, storefront improvements and a marketing campaign to draw investors. Ultimately it’s the Board of Supervisors’ choice whether to support the mayor’s proposal.
Supervisors are set to discuss the budget analyst’s other recommendations during the a Budget and Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday.
“Business cannot go on as usual,” Chan said. “Regrettably, there will be many tough choices moving forward. There are many things that we would like to have and which is good to have, but unfortunately at this moment if we continue spending at this rate we will face a fiscal cliff.”