MTA Budget Showdown Leads To ... Wait For It ... A COMPROMISE!

Jim Herd

That sound you heard earlier today was every City Hall journalist in San Francisco slapping his palm on the table when the Board of Supervisors vote over the controversial Muni budget was continued. And continued again. And more time went by. And now ... after several hours of behind-the-scenes intrigue, a compromise budget has been announced.

Chris Roberts at SF Appeal has been live-blogging this thing -- a Godsend for those of us chained to our desks -- and SF Weekly's Peter Jamison is on the scene as well. Intelligent analysis from Jamison is forthcoming, but the instant news, for now, is that Chiu has rescinded his motion to reject the Municipal Transportation Authority budget and is prepared to support the new revised budget that may or may not have been written on the back of an envelope in a City Hall antechamber.

It is unclear if this compromise budget bowled Chiu over or if he simply didn't have the seven votes necessary to kill the old MTA submission.

Update, 6:10 p.m.: From Roberts -- Only $3 million of the $66 million in "work orders" -- which allow other departments to use Muni as a till -- have been removed from this budget. That doesn't sound like a lot, and Supervisor David Campos is pissed off.

Update, 6:30 p.m.: Wait a minute -- Gavin Newsom had Supervisor Carmen Chu and mayoral Chief of Staff Steve Kawa do the talking on this? What class of meteor has to be heading toward the city for Mayor Twitter to get involved personally? Which of his staff would he designate to handle the giant shark that ate the Golden Gate Bridge?  (NOTE: Peter Jamison subsequently reported that Newsom was indeed involved in the final stage of negotiations. So score him points for deigning to get involved ... this time).

Update: 6:45 p.m.: From Peter Jamison at City Hall: Fares still going up in July from $1.50 to $2. Work orders are down by $2.8 million. Also: $3 million in salary savings and $2.5 million on fare inspectors will be cut and $1 million is expected to be raised by parking meter hours extending to 8 p.m. An additional million bucks in "efficiencies" on parts and maintenance is expected to materialize (i.e. duct tape will be used), which adds to $10.3 million in savings and/or anticipated income.

Also, fare increases for students, seniors, and the disabled will be postponed until May of next year.  

Chiu's last-minute compromise still got "no" votes from Supervisors Campos, Chris Daly, Ross Mirkarimi, Eric Mar and John Avalos.  

More to come from Jamison soon.

Photo   |   Jim Herd