Name: S.F. mayor, supervisors forgo salary increases amid huge budget deficit
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S.F. mayor, supervisors forgo salary increases amid huge budget deficit

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San Francisco Mayor London Breed and all 11 members of the Board of Supervisors chose to either decline or donate their pay raises this year, amid a huge city budget deficit that may forceBreed initially asked the city’s labor unions to delay their wage increases this year as the city grappled with a $1.5 billion budget deficit. But the supervisors later approved a budget that gave all city employees a 3.5% salary increase, which kicks in Saturday.The mayor sharply criticized the board’s decision to dip into the city’s reserves to fund the raises, saying it was a fiscally irresponsible move amid the economic uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic.The police and fire unions agreed to defer their wage increases this year, All mayoral staff members who make more than $65,000 a year also delayed their raises for the upcoming year.“As mayor, I cannot take a raise on this date if I have asked these first responders to forgo their own raise,” she said in a letter to the city’s Civil Service Commission last month. “I very much appreciate their willingness to step forward and sacrifice their wage increase and help the city balance its budget. I would like to join them in that sacrifice.”More for youSan Francisco has been facing grim finances since the pandemic began battering the local economy in spring. The city’s budget office is expecting a $411.1 million deficit in the next fiscal year and a $242.1 million deficit in the year after that.Salaries are the municipal government’s largest expense, accounting for about 30% of its $13.1 billion budget, Breed makes $422,508 a year in salary and benefits, which tracks salaries and pensions for public officials.To fund the first year of the raises for most of the city’s unions, the supervisors voted to use $36.9 million in business tax reserves. But the city is on the hook for another 3% raise starting July 1 and a half-percent raise on Jan. 1, 2022.The city controller’s office created a “Voluntary Wage Give-Back Option” for city employees who wanted to donate or decline their wage increases for this year. The supervisors — who make about $160,000 a year in salaries and benefits — were given the option to decline their increases or donate it to the city’s COVID-19 response and recovery fund, Give2SF.As of Tuesday, the controller’s office said, it had received a request from Supervisor Dean Preston to decline his salary increase, while Supervisors Catherine Stefani, Aaron Peskin, Gordon Mar, Matt Haney, Rafael Mandelman, Hillary Ronen and Shamann Walton asked to donate theirs to Give2SF.Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Area’s largest water districts.Supervisor Ahsha Safaí was the only one of his colleagues who said Tuesday that he was still “reviewing the options provided to us” and that he was “likely” going to accept the increase. But after being asked by a reporter a few hours later whether he had made his decision, he said he was going to donate it.The supervisors’ staff members will still receive a 3.5% increase. Supervisors Sandra Lee Fewer and Norman Yee were not included in the increase because they are leaving office in January.Meanwhile, Local 21 — a labor union that represents technical workers in San Francisco, including court reporters — filed an unfair labor practice charge against the city for initiating the voluntary program.“Here, by going directly to employees to ask that they give up negotiated salary increases, the city is attempting to get through direct dealing what it could not obtain through bargaining,” said the charging documents, which were filed last week.Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: Twitter:Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Area’s largest water districts.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed and all 11 members of the Board of Supervisors chose to either decline or donate their pay raises this year, amid a huge city budget deficit that may forceBreed initially asked the city’s labor unions to delay their wage increases this year as the city grappled with a $1.5 billion budget deficit. But the supervisors later approved a budget that gave all city employees a 3.5% salary increase, which kicks in Saturday.The mayor sharply criticized the board’s decision to dip into the city’s reserves to fund the raises, saying it was a fiscally irresponsible move...

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Trisha Thadani is a City Hall reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle. She previously covered work-based immigration and local startups for the paper’s business section.  Thadani graduated from Boston University with a degree in journalism. Before joining The Chronicle, she held internships at The Boston Globe, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and was a Statehouse correspondent for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

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Trisha Thadani

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S.F. mayor, supervisors forgo salary increases amid huge budget deficit

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