Mayor Mark Farrell today presented his two-year balanced budget, proposing an $11 billion framework for Fiscal Year 2018-19 and an $11 billion framework for Fiscal Year 2019-20. The two-year budget features significant additional investments for four key priority areas of Mayor Farrell—homelessness, street cleanliness, public safety and programs that support an equitable and diverse city.

The Mayor’s budget also maintains historic funding levels for long-term infrastructure projects such as street repair, park improvements and seismic upgrades, and commits the City to sustainable fiscal practices, which have led to San Francisco receiving record ratings.

“We are taking bold and innovative measures to address the most pressing challenges of today while building the foundation for a strong and successful San Francisco for our next generation of residents,” said Mayor Farrell. “My budget will invest in programs that work—we will move residents out of the depths of homelessness and into safe, stable homes, we will clean up our streets and sidewalks, we will improve public safety in communities throughout San Francisco and we will ensure that our City budget remains in strong fiscal health.”

“The Board of Supervisors has prioritized clean streets, homelessness and housing, and public safety in our budget process,” said Supervisor Malia Cohen, Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee. “I'm pleased that our emphasis on these themes is reflected in the Mayor's budget, and look forward to reviewing the details in Budget Committee.”

Addressing Homelessness and Street Behavior

To combat San Francisco’s homelessness crisis, Mayor Farrell’s budget will fund measures that prevent residents from falling into homelessness and provide permanent exits from homelessness.

The Mayor’s budget will include $4 million for nearly 200 new permanent supportive housing units across San Francisco in the next fiscal year. With the additional investments, San Francisco will have approximately 7,900 total permanent supportive housing units, the most per capita of any major city in the country.

While working to support individuals in exiting homelessness, the Mayor’s budget will also invest in prevention and diversion programs. Notably, the budget will double the annual support of the Homeward Bound program by adding $1.2 million in FY 2018-19, an initiative that reunited nearly 900 individuals with loved ones and family members last year.

Mayor Farrell’s homelessness funding package builds on current investments to open and operate four new Navigation Center facilities at an annual cost of $15.2 million. A national model, Navigation Centers are resource-heavy shelters that offer counseling, services and other assistance for residents trying to break the cycle of homelessness, poverty and addiction.

Other key investments include $1 million for rapid rehousing programs for Transitional Age Youth (TAY), and the creation of two new access points that provide resources, support and services for families and residents struggling to remain out of homelessness.

Along with investments in homelessness initiatives, Mayor Farrell’s budget will include significant funding for programs that support behavioral health and drug treatment programs. Last month, Mayor Farrell announced $6 million in funding over the two-year budget to create a dedicated drug addiction street team, a first-in-the-nation program to bring the opioid treatment buprenorphine directly to people suffering from addiction.

Committing to Clean and Vibrant Neighborhoods

Mayor Farrell will fund a comprehensive street cleaning program, investing nearly $13 million for improvement projects and equipment over the next two years.

With a focus on neighborhood cleaning, Mayor Farrell’s plan will add 44 new cleaners, with the workers split up evenly among San Francisco’s 11 Supervisorial districts. Additionally, the Mayor will also include funding for a new street cleaning program in the SoMa District that will operate five days a week.

The Mayor will also fund the creation of five new Pit Stops—staffed facilities that provide safe and clean public toilets in high-need communities—while expanding the hours at five other Pit Stop sites. In addition, the Mayor’s budget includes $3.4 million in new equipment investments over two years, allowing San Francisco Public Works to purchase new state-of-the-art street cleaning vehicles.

These funding efforts will help bolster Mayor Farrell’s existing initiatives to clean up San Francisco streets. Earlier this year, he announced the creation of a dedicated team of public health professionals, with a singular focus of picking up discarded syringes. The needle cleanup team focuses their efforts based on resident complaint data.

Mayor Farrell has also announced that the City’s Fix-It Team—an interagency unit that responds to quality-of-life concerns—will expand from 25 zones to 35 zones, providing more opportunities for the group to address issues such as graffiti, broken streetlights and overgrown bushes.

Improving Public Safety and Emergency Responses

Mayor Farrell’s budget includes a strategic plan to eventually bring on 250 additional sworn personnel to the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD), with 130 officers in the police academy in the next year.

The Mayor’s public safety improvement investments also feature $7.5 million for 130 new police vehicles and $3 million for Controlled Electrical Devices, commonly referred to as Tasers.

In addition to supporting new hires and equipment, Mayor Farrell’s budget provides $1.7 million to support efforts of the SFPD’s ongoing police reforms. In 2016, the SFPD entered into a voluntary agreement with the United States Department of Justice to carry out 272 reform measures, many related to use-of-force operations. The SFPD is now collaborating with the California Department of Justice to finish implementing all the reforms.

Mayor Farrell will provide $1.5 million over two years to add four new positions to the Department of Police Accountability, the agency that audits police use-of-force and officer misconduct policies.

The Mayor’s budget investments also include $1.6 million over two years to provide additional staff within the Department of Public Health to improve sexual assault coordination and provide more resources to sexual assault survivors.

The Mayor will invest $8 million in new funding over the two year budget for the Department of Emergency Management to train 90 new dispatcher recruits, ensuring that staffing levels are met to support the department’s goal of answering 90 percent of 9-1-1 calls within 10 seconds. Mayor Farrell will complement those investments with $1.5 million in funding over the next two years for the San Francisco Fire Department to staff a Medical Assistance Response Team, which will rapidly respond to medical service calls in the Tenderloin and Civic Center neighborhoods.

 

Supporting an Equitable and Diverse City

The Mayor’s budget includes substantial investments for underserved communities, including $7.6 million in funding over next two years to provide legal representation to immigrants facing deportations, among other legal and social support programs.

The Mayor will invest more than $7 million over the two years on criminal justice reform programs, including initiatives to expand pretrial release and weekend rebooking measures and efforts to end onerous local fees.

The Mayor’s budget will also continue to support small businesses and residents from underserved communities seeking employment and training opportunities. The budget will provide funding for business loan programs, advanced manufacturing training and the Gleaneagles Citybuild Academy, which provides career pathways for local residents.

In addition, the two-year budget includes programming of $20 million in soda tax revenue address health inequities. That funding will support health education, physical activity and food access programs in underserved communities, which have disproportionately high levels of obesity and heart disease and have been the subject of marketing campaigns from soft drink companies.

Preparing Responsibly for the Future

San Francisco’s Capital Plan will be fully funded for two consecutive years. The Mayor will dedicate $304 million in General Fund allocations for long-term improvement projects, ensuring that San Francisco is responsibly prepared for the future.

That funding commitment includes more than $100 million for street resurfacing projects, a historic level of investment for San Francisco Public Works to repair sidewalks, install curb ramps and repave streets, among other projects. Additionally, the Capital Plan includes historic funding levels for the Recreation and Park Department to repair and replace fences, irrigation systems, playing fields and tennis and basketball courts.

Other major undertakings funded by the Capital Plan include an expansion to the City’s 9-1-1 call center, the Hall of Justice administrative exit and the Islais Creek Bridge rehabilitation project.

The Mayor’s two-year budget includes $449 million in rainy day reserves, a record level of contingency funding for the City. The $449 million has the City in reach of meeting its goal of 10 percent of General Fund revenues in reserve, representing a remarkable improvement since the last economic downturn in San Francisco. Earlier this year, the credit rating agency Moody’s awarded San Francisco an Aaa rating. That is the highest rating in Moody’s system and the highest rating ever awarded to the City.

The City Charter requires the Mayor to submit a balanced budget proposal by the first working day in June. To deliver this two-year consensus budget proposal, Mayor Farrell worked with the Board of Supervisors and heard directly from community leaders and residents, and met with residents, nonprofit organizations, City Commissioners, labor organizations, business owners and advocates to discuss priorities and address concerns.

Mayor Farrell’s balanced two-year budget fulfills many of the commitments and priorities outlined by former Mayor Edwin M. Lee, who passed away unexpectedly on December 12, 2017.