Mayor Brown Unveils San Francisco Budget

San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown's recently unveiled budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year includes a $7.7 million cut to the city's contribution to the Department of Public Health's $1 billion budget. But because nearly 70 percent of DPH's funding is independent of the city's general fund and comes from state and federal sources, the department's overall spending is budgeted to increase by nearly $50 million, according to DPH Director Mitchell Katz.

Katz said while baseline HIV/AIDS services will not be cut, some programs will still suffer. The city will not make up for the loss of $2.2 million in federal Ryan White CARE Act appropriations cut by the Bush administration, as it did at the end of this fiscal year. DPH also will not pay for some AIDS programs added back to the mayor's budget by the Board of Supervisors last year. Among program funds cut were $400,000 to the Ark of Refuge, $175,000 to Shanti, and $367,000 to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation for housing assistance. Katz said DPH will retain funding for HIV prevention programs.

Brown had asked all city departments to find 10 percent reductions in their budgets to close a potential shortfall of $175 million due to a "downturn in the high-tech economy" and increasing costs. According to the mayor, the city's new budget does not provide reserves for potential cuts to state and federal funding. Last month, Gov. Gray Davis proposed state budget cuts that would cut about $4 million from the DPH's budget.

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