San Francisco’s Revenue ProblemPaul Hogarthbyline‚ Jun. 10‚ 2008A packed house of labor and non-profit activists crammed into the SF Public Library’s Koret Auditorium yesterday to hold a “Budget and Revenue Town Hall” on the Mayor’s proposed cuts. Many of these groups have to fight such battles every year, but this year – with $20 million in cuts that would affect 150 community-based groups – it’s particularly brutal. Much of this is due to trickle-down cuts from the state level, as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has run out of creative ways to pass the buck from year to year. In the end, the overriding message was that San Francisco will need to tax itself – with two revenue measures being drafted for the November ballot. But a political strategy for making this pass is still in the works, as prior attempts have failed … |