2026 City Budget Petition

Tell City Hall: The Math ain’t Mathing - Fix the City’s Budget

San Francisco is facing a budget crisis of more than $1 billion and the consequences will affect every neighborhood if City Hall doesn’t change course.

This isn’t a temporary dip. It’s a long-term imbalance driven by runaway spending, weak oversight, and short-term budget tricks. The City’s budget has grown to roughly $16 billion, even as population has declined since 2020. San Francisco now employs more public workers per capita than New York or Los Angeles and spends more than many peer city-counties, U.S. states, and even entire countries.

And we’re not even spending the money we do have very well. The City spends ~$1.6 billion annually on nonprofits with weak oversight, leading to multiple incidences of fraud and misspending. Homelessness continues to rise despite significant increases in funding. Furthermore, credit rating agencies have already downgraded San Francisco’s financial outlook.

The facts are simple. Higher taxes won’t solve a spending problem. And using budget gimmicks like drawing from reserve funds and/or using one-time fixes won’t address the long-term issue.

That’s why we’re calling on the Mayor and Board of Supervisors to address the budget crisis responsibly by following these three clear principles:

Do not use reserve funds. Reserves are for emergencies like recessions and not for poor planning.
Do not use one-time fixes and short cuts. Accounting gimmicks won’t solve a structural deficit.
Do not increase taxes. The problem is spending, not revenue.

By signing this petition, you are sending a clear message: San Francisco needs disciplined budgeting, real oversight, and long-term financial reform and not more can-kicking that pushes today’s problems onto future residents.

Add your name below to demand responsible leadership and protect San Francisco’s future.

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Mayor, Budget Director, and Board of Supervisors Emails

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Message to Mayor, Budget Director, and Board of Supervisors

Dear Mayor and Members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors,&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;I am writing to urge the City to confront San Francisco’s long-term structural budget deficit, which could grow to over $1 billion by 2030, with a clear-eyed, responsible approach that restores fiscal stability and public trust.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;As the City’s own financial projections make clear, San Francisco is facing a persistent spending problem. Our City is simply spending money it does not have. The deficit is a serious structural problem that if not solved, will harm our quality of life and lead to cuts to services that we cherish such as our libraries and parks. &#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;Critically, this deficit cannot be solved by relying on strategies that merely delay hard decisions. San Francisco must address its budget gap while following the below principles: &#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;• Do not use reserves, which exist to protect the City during true emergencies and economic shocks and not to paper over recurring imbalances.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;• Do not use one-time fixes and shortcuts, which provide temporary relief while worsening the long-term outlook.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;• Do not increase taxes, which would further burden residents and businesses already struggling with affordability and economic uncertainty.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;Using reserves, one-time fixes, or new taxes may appear expedient in the short run, but each approach ultimately weakens the City’s fiscal foundation and compounds the problem in future budget cycles.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;Instead, the City should focus on sustainable solutions that align recurring spending with recurring revenues. That means taking a hard look at baseline costs, staffing levels, and program effectiveness including roughly $1.6 billion in annual nonprofit spending, where repeated audits and scandals have revealed weak oversight, misuse of funds, and poor accountability for results.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;It also means confronting the City’s own irresponsible spending practices. San Francisco has poured billions into homelessness programs with little improvement in outcomes and even raided a dedicated small-business healthcare fund to paper over short-term budget gaps. These practices reflect a broader failure to track spending, measure performance, and enforce accountability.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;San Franciscans expect and deserve a budget strategy that is honest about the scale of the challenge and disciplined in how it is addressed. Tackling the structural deficit responsibly is essential not only to the City’s financial health, but to its credibility, economic recovery, and ability to deliver on its commitments to residents.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;I respectfully urge you to prioritize long-term fiscal sustainability and to commit to solutions that solve the problem at its root rather than passing it forward to future leaders, future taxpayers, and future budgets.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;Thank you for your leadership and consideration.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;Sincerely,

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Tell SFUSD Superintendent Maria Su and Board of Education to Pause Ethnic Studies Requirements.