Mayor Lurie orders $100 million in budget cuts; could lead to elimination of up to 500 jobs
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is ordering city departments to cut $100 million in personnel spending which could lead to the elimination of up to 500 jobs.
That's according to an email from the mayor's office acquired by ABC7 Eyewitness News.
The letter says the cuts proposed last month by each department don't go far enough to close the historic $877 million deficit facing the city.
With personnel taking up a large portion of the budget, department heads are now being asked to cut $100 million in personnel spending.
"Layoffs are painful but we are going to focus on core government services going forward is what San Franciscans deserve, and we have difficult budget decision to make," said Mayor Lurie and added, "We are working with department heads. We are looking to cut $400 million in ongoing spending out of the budget. We have a structural budget deficit that we have to work on we started last year. We are going to continue this year."
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In the email, the Mayor's Budget Office said that $100 million "equates to a reduction of at least 500 budgeted positions across the general fund."
It went on to say that "Based on the MBO analysis of current vacancy rates, meeting this target requires eliminating filled positions."
The department heads are being told to revisit budget staffing levels and look at things like management structure and overtime management.
Even though the mayor did not give specifics on departments that may see the largest cuts. Some are already getting heads up.
Benny Zank with the city's environment department said they were told in January that eight positions could be eliminated in his department.
"There is a lot of concern that people may lose their job and that critical work that we do on the climate action plan, on public charging infrastructure, on building electrification will be impacted and that is something certainly that people are concerned about," said Zank.
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Here is the full statement:
"The positions on the chopping block are critical public services that San Franciscans of all walks of life depend on. San Francisco's recovery and economic success is tied to the workers who do the hard work every day to keep this city supported and deliver important services to the community. They clean our streets and parks, respond to emergencies, provide life-saving care in our public hospitals, help people in crisis on our streets and connect them with housing and services. That's exactly why we must pass the Overpaid CEO Act this June.
This common-sense measure will bring in $300 million a year to protect public services that Trump's cuts through HR 1 will otherwise decimate, by requiring the largest corporations doing business in San Francisco to invest a fraction of what they are saving in HR 1 tax cuts back into this community to keep it a city people want to live and work in," - SEIU 1021 President Theresa Rutherford.
This is the second year that Mayor Lurie's administration has resorted to layoffs.
Last time, public-sector unions pushed back, which led to fewer workers losing their jobs than was initially proposed.
For now, the department heads have to submit their staffing recommendations to the Mayor's Budget Office by March 12.
