Budget committee adopts shared priorities for FY2022'24, adds API cultural corridor preservation

The Board of Supervisors' Budget & Appropriations Committee voted to adopt a set of shared goals and a process to guide deliberations on the city budget for fiscal years 2022'23 and 2023'24 and forwarded the amended motion to the full Board with a positive recommendation. Chair Matt Haney said the framework is an annual kickoff that reflects input from the mayor's office, city agencies, labor partners, service providers and the public and will guide hearings in April and beyond.

Haney said the priorities include housing affordability and stability, homelessness services, expanded mental-health and substance-use treatment, early care and education, expanded family-support and wraparound school services, support for seniors and people with disabilities, climate resiliency measures, expedited pedestrian and Vision Zero improvements, COVID recovery resources for small businesses, and investments in open space, recreation, commercial assets and historic preservation.

During public comment, David Pilpel asked the committee to clarify that public comment would be taken on departments during their presentations, and urged the creation and maintenance of a clear Board budget web page (he suggested sfbos.org/budget) and clearer navigation of sf.gov budget pages so residents can find department submissions and outreach schedules.

Haney offered a single amendment, adding "commercial assets and historic preservation for the API community and API cultural corridor preservation" to the shared priorities. The amendment was seconded by President Walton and passed by roll call (5 ayes). The committee then voted to forward the amended goals to the full Board of Supervisors with a positive recommendation (roll call; 5 ayes).

The committee recorded the action and will include the adopted goals as the starting point for department hearings and budget deliberations in April; items acted upon are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors agenda for March 8, 2022, unless otherwise stated.