Friends and Neighbors, 

Last week, the Board of Supervisors moved forward with a revised budget that lays out our city’s spending plan for the new two fiscal years. It was my first budget process since taking office in December, and I wanted to share an update.

The budget passed by the Budget and Finance Committee represents a significant increase in funding for groups that have historically been left out of the budget process. In addition, our office was able to win significant investments in the Tenant Right to Counsel program (a free lawyer for anyone facing eviction!), badly-needed small business relief, and funding for homeless services.

Another critical and important piece of this budget supports our most undervalued, underpaid and often overworked essential workers. Many of these critical workers are on the front lines working long hours and risk COVID-19. I am proud that my colleagues used a chunk of the reserves to deliver fair wages and necessary protections for these workers, while still leaving $750 million in the remaining reserves for use if needed during the challenging and unsure times ahead.

San Franciscans are in real economic pain during this unprecedented time and it makes sense for the city to utilize some of our reserves to protect our most vulnerable and essential workers. In addition, in order to make sure we have the revenue we need to support those most vulnerable, I hope San Franciscans will vote and support the progressive revenue ballot measures this November that will bring hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue at a time when our city desperately needs the revenue.

I’m proud of the work that of the Board of Supervisors, led by Budget Chair Sandra Lee Fewer, the partnership with the Budget and Legislative Analyst Office, Controller’s Office, service providers, labor leaders, and community advocates relentlessly undertook over the past months and weeks to not only restore many of the proposed cuts, but to increase investments in programs that will help the city and our residents get through this pandemic and onto a path to recovery.

The Board made significant and positive changes to the Mayor’s Proposed Budget, but I want to be clear: we still have a long way to go. The budget is a statement of values and our budget overspends on policing and underspends on those most vulnerable. We came up short as a City in our response to the widespread demands that we reimagine public safety and defund the police. The Board expanded on the Mayor’s $18 million SFPD cut by further reducing the police budget. We made cuts to police overtime and committed to cutting Academy classes, laying the groundwork for future staffing cuts, a sharp difference from past budgets that increase police funding. The African American community deserves every dollar and more from those cuts. But in my view, they were not enough. They will save some money, but they won’t transform how we approach policing and public safety in San Francisco. We have work to do.

For a full recap, click here.