San Francisco Mayor’s Budget Proposal Calls for Elimination of Some Jobs at City Health Department
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's budget proposal, which he will submit to the Board of Supervisors by Tuesday, would lay off more than 500 city employees, including some Department of Public Health personnel, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Under the $5 billion budget proposal, the health department's administration would be required to eliminate 17% of its staff positions. Overall, Newsom proposes eliminating 750 of the city's 27,000 positions, but he anticipates that only 500 employees would actually lose their jobs through layoffs or early retirements. Other measures in the proposal include plans to decrease workers' compensation claims; reduce increasing overtime costs; reinstate the gross receipts tax on revenue for businesses earning more than $500,000 annually; eliminate a loophole exempting limited partnership corporations from payroll taxes; and implement other taxes. Newsom said that he would not cut funding for substance-abuse treatment programs, homeless shelters or direct services such as police protection. The proposal aims to balance the city budget, which has an estimated $307 million deficit; city law requires the mayor to present a balanced budget to the board by June 1. Newsom estimates that the budget proposal would generate $25 million for the city in fiscal year 2005-2006 and about $50 million annually in subsequent years (Gordon, San Francisco Chronicle, 5/28).
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