News/Commentary

San Francisco mayor orders $206M in cuts – police, public health hit the hardest

October 22, 2023 | | Print Article

As San Francisco collapses in what economists are calling a “doom loop” spiral, Mayor London Breed has called on city departments — including police and public health — to propose a staggering $206 million in budget cuts by next week.

The slow and steady destruction of “Fog City” from a perfect storm of rampant drugs, homelessness, and woke progressive policies has long been the stuff of national headlines, with iconic businesses closing their doors amid skyrocketing crime.

Nevertheless, law enforcement is now facing budget cuts of $27.6 million. While strung-out, often mentally ill vagrants call the city’s streets home, the public health department is looking at $25.9 million in cuts, according to an analysis from DailyMail.com.

Furthermore, the outlet reports, “The fire department must propose reductions of around $10.5 million to meet the mayor’s demand, while city’s crumbling Municipal Transport Agency must find savings of $15.5 million, a review of official figures suggests.”

“Sanctuary city just means more for the invaders, less for everyone else,” the popular “End Wokeness” account on X noted.

Staring down the potential for San Francisco to reach a $500 million deficit by 2025, Breed penned a letter to the city’s departments on October 11, ordering them to propose deep cuts by her October 26 deadline.

The letter means the mayor is now “forced to tear up the record-breaking $14.6 billion annual budget she signed off just three months ago,” DailyMail.com reports.

“We simply cannot wait until next year’s budget process to begin to address our growing structural deficit, which at this time, we project to be at least $500 million in Fiscal Year 2025-26 alone,” Breed wrote.

Unused cell phone lines must now be deactivated, expenses for city workers must be restricted, and departments must hit pause on hiring to fill certain vacant positions.

“The measures come amid a broader economic crisis in San Francisco which economists call a ‘doom loop,'” according to DailyMail.com. “The term refers to a city’s decline when tax incomes fall as residents and businesses leave, causing revenues to decline in a downward spiral that is hard to reverse.”

“San Francisco’s economic reality remains challenging,” Breed told department heads. The cuts are “imperative… to ensure we can meet the needs of our residents while also being financially responsible.”

This fiscal year, Breed and San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors have spent roughly $6.8 billion from the General Fund they control. Now, departments must propose ways to pull back at least three percent of the money from the General Fund they’ve received — a reduction that translates into approximately $206 million in citywide cuts.

DailyMail.com breaks down the necessary reductions:

Analysis of the amount each city department has been allocated from the general fund this year indicates the San Francisco Police Department must cut spending by $18.5 million in order to meet the target. It received $617 million from the General Fund in this year’s budget.

The District Attorney’s office, which has a key role in tackling drug-related crime, would need to cut $2.4 million, while the Sheriff’s office cuts could amount to $6.7 million.

Dr Grant Colfax, the director of the Department of Public Health, said it must identify “$25.9 million in additional revenue or savings” to meet the mayor’s demand.

…

The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing was allocated $302 million from the General Fund in this year’s budget. The department would need to propose cuts of $9 million to meet the mayor’s target.

“As our city tries to regain the upper hand on the drug and crime epidemic it has suffered through for far too long, any cuts that impact the SFPD’s ability to hire, retain, train, or equip our officers, or put enough officers on the street to respond to, prevent and investigate crimes should be rejected,” the president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association union, Tracy McCray, told the outlet.

“And now that we are finally prosecuting criminals and holding them in jail, and we’re desperately trying to get medical attention and services to the addicts dying on our streets, this also should apply to the District Attorney, Sheriff, Fire Department, and Public Health,” McCray stated. “Otherwise, we’re just throwing away all the good work we’ve done to turn the tide away from the criminals who are sucking the life out of our city.”

Melissa Fine
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