Budget may burn fire stations
By: Beth Winegarner
Examiner Staff Writer
February 5, 2009
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| Ensuring fire protection: Voters approved Proposition F in November 2005, requiring the mayor and supervisors to set aside funds for full staffing at each of The City’s 42 firehouses. (Examiner File Photo) |
SAN FRANCISCO —
Lean budget times could force staffing-level cuts at firehouses in The City, overriding a law voters approved in 2005.
Voters approved Proposition F in November 2005, requiring the mayor and supervisors to set aside funds for full staffing at each of The City’s 42 firehouses.
With The City facing a $575.6 million budget gap, the need to balance the budget trumps the will of the voters, Greg Wagner, deputy director of Mayor Gavin Newsom’s budget office, told the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee on Wednesday.
Wagner did not report how much money firefighter cutbacks would save. Fully staffing local firehouses cost up to $6.6 million in 2005, according to the measure.
"Even though it’s voter approved, it’s an ordinance — and the authority under the City Charter to adopt a balanced budget trumps an ordinance," Wagner said.
With a $228 million annual operating budget, the San Francisco Fire Department is one of The City’s largest agencies. Most of its general fund, 90 percent, pays for salaries and benefits, according to spokeswoman Lt. Mindy Talmadge.
Matt Dorsey, spokesman for the City Attorney’s Office, agreed that Prop. F can be suspended for budgetary reasons.
"An ordinance can’t compel the mayor and Board of Supervisors to spend money in future years," Dorsey said.
San Francisco fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White has stood by the minimum-staffing credo since it was adopted, according to Talmadge.
"The voters clearly decided that they didn’t want any firehouses closed, and she’s standing by that," Talmadge said.
The idea of not staffing certain firehouses was just one of a handful of cost-saving strategies from top-spending city departments summarized in Wagner’s report Wednesday. Departments must submit plans to slash up to 25 percent of their budgets to the City Controller’s Office by Feb. 20.
While the Department of Public Health has named $24 million in new revenues and $18.7 million in cuts — including streamlining mental-health services with fewer staffers — the Police Department is exploring whether the Municipal Transportation Agency could handle more traffic-citation duties, Wagner said.
"I’m concerned that we don’t have a lot of clear details and plans in place on how to close the gap," Supervisor John Avalos said.
