Although San Francisco voters significantly increased the pension contributions of city employees last November, the government’s pension costs are still expected to increase by almost 20 percent over the next 17 months. In November, city voters approved a pension measure that increases city employees’ pension contribution rate whenever the city’s contribution rate increases.
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The value of the tax break that apparently kept the social gaming company Zynga from fleeing San Francisco for friendlier business environs could have exceeded $6 million.Zynga is expected to receive that benefit next week when it files its payroll taxes and exercises a tax exemption created to woo tech companies.
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Mayor Ed Lee’s plan to add $1 million into The City’s revolving loan fund for small businesses suffered a setback Wednesday.The Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee unanimously agreed the proposal raised a number of unresolved issues and more time was needed to determine whether it was the best use of taxpayer dollars.
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Walking through the busy kitchen of a restaurant, David Chiu says, “Make sure you get the benefit you’re owed.” The Board of Supervisors president is featured in a TV commercial launched this week, in partnership with business advocates such as the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the Golden Gate Restaurant Association. Supervisors Scott Wiener, Mark Farrell and Malia Cohen also appear one at a time walking through the kitchen discussing the benefits. The commercial can be seen at www.getyourbenefitsf.com.
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Voters will continue ranking candidates in elections after a proposal to eliminate such a system failed to make the June ballot. Supervisor Mark Farrell had proposed a charter amendment that would eliminate the system. Instead, people would vote in September with a November run-off. But Farrell could not secure the six votes on the Board of Supervisors to place it on the June ballot Tuesday, the deadline to do so. “I just think it’s a shame that we don’t send this to the ballot,” Farrell said. “We let the voters decide. This is a big issue in our city.”
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The local economy is recovering more quickly than city officials had expected, resulting in $122.3 million in extra tax revenue, according to a budget report released Monday afternoon.The City had assumed a moderate recovery in tax revenues throughout the fiscal year, but revenues from hotel, payroll, sales and property sales and transfers are outpacing those projections, according to the city controller’s report.Business owners seem to be enjoying the direction San Francisco’s economy is heading, although they are not yet singing financial hallelujahs.
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As more and more people bike to work in downtown San Francisco, the demand is rising for safe storage.Downtown buildings would be required to provide commuters with a “safe, secure place” to store their bikes while at work, under legislation introduced by Supervisor John Avalos.
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For a city that prides itself on a transit-first policy, one could only have expected uproar when a tax break for transit riders was cut while another for drivers increased.
City officials, including Mayor Ed Lee, are encouraging US Congress to fully restore the commuter benefit program, which allows employees to make pre-tax deductions to pay for public transit costs, like Muni, BART, Caltrain and vanpools.
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Signs of San Francisco’s thriving mobile food businesses are evident all around town — except on the grounds of hospitals and colleges, where these vendors are banned. But that could change. Supervisor Scott Wiener introduced legislation Tuesday that would eliminate the planning code provision that prohibits mobile food vendors from operating at such institutions as San Francisco State University or Kaiser Permanente hospital.
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Concerns about unknown costs and system redundancies did not stop San Francisco officials from moving forward Tuesday with supporting a $100 million emergency communications network for the Bay Area. With a federal grant and matching funds from Motorola, the envisioned network must be operational by July 2013. And two-thirds of the $50 million grant must be spent by this July.
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Shoppers will have to start bringing their own bags if they want to avoid a new fee.
San Francisco on Tuesday became the latest California city to impose a fee on bags provided to customers, 10 cents a tote, as part of a growing effort to change consumer habits by hitting them in their wallets.
The new rules will take effect Oct. 1. Single-use plastic bags will be banned, and only three kinds -- recycled paper, compostable plastic and reusable – will be allowed. Merchants will be able to keep the revenue from the bag fee.
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San Francisco on Tuesday could become the latest on a growing list of California cities to impose a fee on shoppers who fail to bring their own bags. In December, the Board of Supervisors postponed a vote on legislation that would have banned all single-use plastic bags and required merchants to impose a 10-cent charge per bag they provide to customers. The merchants would keep the revenue from the fee. But a decision was postponed after members of the board said merchants were worried about the proposal and that not enough outreach was done.
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Embattled Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi was denied a special request Friday for visitation rights to see his 2-year old son but was granted a chance to make his case in family court on Wednesday.
Mirkarimi is asking a family court judge to modify a stay-away-order issued by Superior Court Judge Susan Breall in the criminal case against him for allegedly abusing his wife Eliana Lopez during a New Year’s Eve argument.
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Mayor Ed Lee has withdrawn his job protection charter amendment for the June ballot after the proposal stirred a fiery backlash from union labor leaders and progressive politicians.
Lee had proposed the charter amendment to give a stronger voice to business owners who often complain that legislation coming out of City Hall is bad for business.
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An appointee to the Planning Commission clarified Thursday the conflict of interest she may have when voting on important development issues while also working for an influential Chinatown nonprofit.
“One question that many people have been asking me about is if there are potential conflicts due to my day job at CCDC,” said Cindy Wu, Board of Supervisors President David Chiu’s appointee to the Planning Commission.
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URL: http://www.sfexaminer.com/people/joshua-sabatini
