San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie unveiled a record-breaking nearly $17 billion budget that significantly raises police and fire personnel and avoids mass layoffs as the city faces a long-running deficit of hundreds of millions.
Lurie says his two-year $16.9 billion budget spurs the San Francisco comeback he often lauds in public appearances and helps fix a persistent budget deficit, though several hundred workers who rely on city money could lose their jobs.
“I know these decisions have real consequences. But if we fail to act now, our structural deficit will grow to $1 billion, and the tough decisions before us today will be even more painful and costly tomorrow,” Lurie said in prepared remarks Monday.
“You can feel the momentum. Jobs are increasing. Businesses are opening. Muni ridership is at an all-time high after the pandemic,” Lurie said.
City unions were looking at layoffs after Lurie handed out pink slips to 127 city workers.
Nonprofit workers, meanwhile, expect as many as 1,000 job losses as the city restores nonprofit contracts that have totaled more than $1.6 billion in recent years, the San Francisco Standard reported.
“We are pleased and relieved to see that Mayor Lurie did not include additional layoffs in next year’s budget. San Francisco is at a critical juncture in its recovery, and we cannot back down,” SEIU 1021 Vice President Kristen Hardy told the San Francisco Standard.
Police and firefighters will get the biggest raises in Lurie’s budget, up to 14% over four years as part of a labor agreement released last month.
Lurie said the hiring freeze last year saved the city $130 million.
The budget comes ahead of a critical June 2 election that will have a major impact on the city’s economy.
San Francisco voters will decide on Prop. D, a divisive ballot measure labeled “Executive compensation tax” would impose an additional tax on the receipts of businesses with large differences between the compensation of local workers and top executives.
Lurie and allies in the business community strongly opposed the move, saying it would drive companies out of the city and hurt San Francisco’s economic recovery.
A similar measure passed in 2020 by a landslide, but the tax was quietly lowered in a subsequent tax reform effort as city leaders tried to lure big businesses back to the city.
Supporters of Prop. D, which includes the city’s largest unions, said the tax would raise $250 million a year.
Lurie told reporters he won’t revise the budget if Prop D. passes, and said the city needs to step up.
