5 ms·

SF has a massive annual budget, about $9B (http://sfmayor.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/mayor/budget/SF_Budget_Book_FY_2015_16_and_2016_17_Final_WEB.pdf http://sfmayor.

by geofree 10y ago

SF has a massive annual budget, about $9B (http://sfmayor.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/mayor/budget/SF_Budget_Book_FY_2015_16_and_2016_17_Final_WEB.pdf http://sfmayor.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/mayor/budget/SF_Budget_...). To put this into perspective our city has a larger budget than 12 individual US States (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_budgets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_budgets). The default position of the city is to consistently raise taxes. Is it possible to utilize our current resources more effectively?

skyrw 10y ago
Thinking like this is considered bigoted nowadays.
dragonwriter 10y ago
> To put this into perspective our city has a larger budget than 12 individual US States It also has a larger GDP than something like 36 individual US states (don't have same year numbers, but only 14 states -- and, obviously, one of those is California -- have 2015 GDP [0] higher than SF's 2014 GDP [1]) -- and that's not just because its bigger in population than some states, since only four states (Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, and North Dakota) have smaller population than SF. > Is it possible to utilize our current resources more effectively? Seems to me SF is doing something right. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_GDP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_GDP [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_GDP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_GDP
- dguaraglia 10y ago
  SF could do much better with the amount of taxes we pay. I have no idea where the taxes go, but the state of some roads (let alone public transportation) is pretty bad. San Francisco is only doing so well because it's the only "lively" city around Silicon Valley.
  - yardie 10y ago
    I have no idea where the taxes go I'd wager a good chunk of it goes to ensuring the money is being spent correctly. When I was an undergrad my boss was the grant writer. Half the money (and a lot of time) went into compliance and accounting. Another example is the joke about construction projects; 1 guy digs the hole, another guy supervises the guy digging the hole, a union rep watches over the guy digging the whole, government rep makes sure the guy digging the whole is to spec, environmental guy makes sure the guy digging the whole isn't causing environmental damage. Individually, all these people are necessary, but as you add more requirements and more compliance it takes up a lot of money. And that's what happens when people say I don't know where the tax money goes. Another committee gets formed, more forms to fill in are created.
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    > I have no idea where the taxes go http://www.sfmayor.org/index.aspx?page=880 http://www.sfmayor.org/index.aspx?page=880
    - dguaraglia 10y ago
      Thanks!
- bpodgursky 10y ago
  Yeah, but this ignores the fact that the CA budget, and CA taxes, alone are enormous. This is the delta spending by SF, on top of CA.
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    > Yeah, but this ignores the fact that the CA budget, and CA taxes, alone are enormous. Not as a share of GDP, compared to other states. Its roughly comparable to other big states (though higher than Texas), and lower than lots of states run by what purport to be small-government conservatives. California's budget is big in absolute terms, sure, but so is its nearly $2.5 trillion GDP. SF's budget share of SF's GDP + California's budget share of California's GDP is less than many states budget share of GDP alone (without considering local budget shares.)
ameister14 10y ago
To put this further in perspective, the NYC budget for FY 2017 is 82.2 Billion dollars, which about matches population difference.
- geofree 10y ago
  Or further perspective, Los Angeles is 8.7 Billion. (http://cao.lacity.org/budget15-16/2015-16Proposed_Budget.pdf http://cao.lacity.org/budget15-16/2015-16Proposed_Budget.pdf)
  - ameister14 10y ago
    Wow, that's nuts. I've been putting together a paper on the budgetary effects of driverless cars, but I haven't looked at LA yet - if that's their overall budget and they match a range of numbers with cities like Boston, DC and NY for traffic and parking violations, they're going to get hit HARD. [edit] just with a quick overview of parking alone, they're looking at a 3-5% drop in revenue with total adoption - I'll look into it more but if traffic/vehicle violations make up the normal percentage of 'licenses, permits, fines and fees' it'll be up to 10%.

by geofree 10y ago

skyrw 10y ago

Thinking like this is considered bigoted nowadays.

dragonwriter 10y ago

> To put this into perspective our city has a larger budget than 12 individual US States It also has a larger GDP than something like 36 individual US states (don't have same year numbers, but only 14 states -- and, obviously, one of those is California -- have 2015 GDP [0] higher than SF's 2014 GDP [1]) -- and that's not just because its bigger in population than some states, since only four states (Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, and North Dakota) have smaller population than SF. > Is it possible to utilize our current resources more effectively? Seems to me SF is doing something right. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_GDP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_GDP [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_GDP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_GDP

dguaraglia 10y ago
SF could do much better with the amount of taxes we pay. I have no idea where the taxes go, but the state of some roads (let alone public transportation) is pretty bad. San Francisco is only doing so well because it's the only "lively" city around Silicon Valley.
- yardie 10y ago
  I have no idea where the taxes go I'd wager a good chunk of it goes to ensuring the money is being spent correctly. When I was an undergrad my boss was the grant writer. Half the money (and a lot of time) went into compliance and accounting. Another example is the joke about construction projects; 1 guy digs the hole, another guy supervises the guy digging the hole, a union rep watches over the guy digging the whole, government rep makes sure the guy digging the whole is to spec, environmental guy makes sure the guy digging the whole isn't causing environmental damage. Individually, all these people are necessary, but as you add more requirements and more compliance it takes up a lot of money. And that's what happens when people say I don't know where the tax money goes. Another committee gets formed, more forms to fill in are created.
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  > I have no idea where the taxes go http://www.sfmayor.org/index.aspx?page=880 http://www.sfmayor.org/index.aspx?page=880
  - dguaraglia 10y ago
    Thanks!
bpodgursky 10y ago
Yeah, but this ignores the fact that the CA budget, and CA taxes, alone are enormous. This is the delta spending by SF, on top of CA.
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  > Yeah, but this ignores the fact that the CA budget, and CA taxes, alone are enormous. Not as a share of GDP, compared to other states. Its roughly comparable to other big states (though higher than Texas), and lower than lots of states run by what purport to be small-government conservatives. California's budget is big in absolute terms, sure, but so is its nearly $2.5 trillion GDP. SF's budget share of SF's GDP + California's budget share of California's GDP is less than many states budget share of GDP alone (without considering local budget shares.)

ameister14 10y ago

To put this further in perspective, the NYC budget for FY 2017 is 82.2 Billion dollars, which about matches population difference.

geofree 10y ago
Or further perspective, Los Angeles is 8.7 Billion. (http://cao.lacity.org/budget15-16/2015-16Proposed_Budget.pdf http://cao.lacity.org/budget15-16/2015-16Proposed_Budget.pdf)
- ameister14 10y ago
  Wow, that's nuts. I've been putting together a paper on the budgetary effects of driverless cars, but I haven't looked at LA yet - if that's their overall budget and they match a range of numbers with cities like Boston, DC and NY for traffic and parking violations, they're going to get hit HARD. [edit] just with a quick overview of parking alone, they're looking at a 3-5% drop in revenue with total adoption - I'll look into it more but if traffic/vehicle violations make up the normal percentage of 'licenses, permits, fines and fees' it'll be up to 10%.