San Francisco Chamber of Commerce: Growth in City’s Wages and Benefits Far Outstrips Revenue Growth

Steve Falk, President of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, has published a concise and timely review of the San Francisco Controller's Office Budget Improvement Project. You can read the article here. Here are the highlights:

• Growth in employee wages and benefits – not the number of employees – accounts for 54 percent of the spending growth.
• Public Health: San Francisco’s per capita spending on public-health services is more than double the average of surveyed peer counties.
• Human Services: San Francisco spends up to three times more per capita on social services.
• Police and Fire: San Francisco is the only city that has a voter-adopted minimum staffing level for its Police and Fire Departments.
• The current recession has been a wake-up call across the country. Here in San Francisco it is time to seriously evaluate our cost structure with the goal of living within our means.