Board of Supervisors Pass $6.6 Billion Budget
by Chris Jones
Yesterday, the city's Board of Supervisors voted 9 to 2 to pass a $6.6 billion budget. Lonely dissenters, Supervisors Elsbernd and Chu rejected the budget as totally retarded. Young Elsbernd, supervisor for some district out there, somewhere, beyond West Portal and out by the zoo or someplace, cited the $45 million set aside proposed by Supervisor Campos to offset potential shortfalls from local and state sales tax revenue. He also had issues with various shifts of American dollars from one pile to another, primarily engineered by known lesbian communists, Supervisors Daly and Dreamy Mirkarimi. The various tweaks to the budget included a reported $800,000 cut from funding for the performing arts and $900,000 cut from the trial courts to be redistributed to the public defender and district attorney's
office.
Firebrand Daly reportedly only had one Chris Daly brand storm out attack session during negotiations, which is, let's face it, pretty good for him.
Daly and Dreamy Mirkarimi also wanted to move $1 million from convention facilities funding into the public campaign finance fund which has been gutted by the Mayor. Hrmmmm. Isn't that the same fund that told Chicken John Rinaldi to take a hike when he sought out funding for his mayoral campaign back in 2007? Has any independent candidate for any city office ever actually pulled funds from the public campaign finance fund?
Anyhow, if your mind is reeling over the sheer size of the city's proposed budget and you're wondering how a municipality of fewer than a million rich hipsters and some wandering, homeless teenage hippies can manage to spend more than six billion American dollars in a year, you can find some answers to your questions at the City Controller's website. They have a citizen's guide for last year's budget with nice pie charts that explain it all (warning - pdf). Considering that we're talking billions of American dollars, this year's spending spree break down shouldn't be all that different from last year's. Don't be surprised to learn that 3/4ths of the city budget in 2008 went to public health, cops, and transportation. The rest, no doubt, went to God King of the MTA, Nat Ford's salary.
The Board will get to ponder the implications of their budget for a few days before revisiting it next week for a final vote. Mayoral Spokesperson Nate Ballard indicated that Gavin is bound to sign it. Be warned.