San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee Thursday unveiled his proposed budget for the next fiscal year and, for the first time, also included a budget for the following year.
Lee presented the budget to city officials gathered in the Board of Supervisors chambers at City Hall Thursday morning.
The mayor had a deadline of June 1 to submit the proposal to the board for review, and supervisors will now have until the end of July to make changes to the budget and approve it.
The proposal will close a general fund deficit for the coming fiscal year 2012-13 that had initially been projected at $262 million, but has since been reduced to about $170 million because of better than expected revenue growth.
“San Francisco’s economy is recovering and our reserves are growing,” Lee said.
He called the proposed budget “responsible and balanced” and said it was developed through extensive community involvement.
The mayor held six budget town halls along with supervisors in various neighborhoods around the city in recent weeks.
Agreements with the city’s employee unions saved more than $28 million in next year’s budget, while savings or increased revenues from various city departments reduced the deficit by an additional $53.5 million.
The budget also includes plans to fund six new police academy classes of 50 officers each over the next two years and six fire academy classes over the next six years, a proposal Lee announced earlier this week.
Lee also pledged to restore funding for local HIV/AIDS programs that was cut from the federal level.
“Protecting our social safety net is more important than ever,” he said.
The mayor concluded his remarks by saying his proposed budget shows San Francisco is headed in the right direction financially.
“The values of this city are intact, we are moving forward, and we are investing in all of our neighborhoods,” Lee said.
For more information about the mayor’s proposed budget, visit www.sfmayor.org/index.aspx?page=460.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
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