Ethics Commission outlines budget priorities and warns staffing could be cut under mayor's 10%+ contingency plan

Acting Executive Director Gayatri Dighton Lau told the San Francisco Ethics Commission the office must plan for a 10% reduction plus a 5% contingency under mayoral budget instructions, translating to planning impacts of roughly $1.3 million and up to $1.6 million if contingency is included.

Lau said the commission's baseline operating budget is approximately $7,000,000 with about 30.5 funded positions out of 34 authorized positions and that staffing accounts for roughly 87% of operating costs. She said the commission also administers a separate election campaign fund that currently holds about $4,000,000 and is capped at $7,000,000.

Explaining the mayor's instruction, Lau said the 10% reduction equates to about $680,000 and the 5% contingency about $340,000. To meet those targets, staff are identifying savings primarily from salary lines by leaving vacancies open, reallocating about $59,000 of a ballot-allocated lobbyist project fund to cover part of netfile maintenance costs, and reducing some purchased services allocations from the Department of Human Resources.

Lau warned that meeting a full 15% planning scenario would require leaving more positions vacant across compliance, policy, enforcement and administrative areas and could require identifying a position for layoff. She pointed to two positions whose funding expires in June (an 1823 senior administrative analyst and a senior investigator) and highlighted the engagement and compliance officer role (coded in materials as 18-44) as a critical gap if left unfilled.

Commissioners pressed for protection of the small policy division and the senior officer who oversees Form 700 compliance; one commissioner said policy has been "one of the least appreciated" but "the most vital" areas of the commission's work. Lau said staff will solicit feedback and return with a more detailed proposal at the commission's February meeting, with a budget agenda published by Feb. 5 and a submission to the mayor's office due Feb. 21.

Lau framed the planning as contingent on citywide decisions and said departments have been told not to request new positions as part of this cycle. The commission will consider the more detailed February proposal before the mayor releases a proposed budget to the board of supervisors.