Elections

The defeat of the Mid-Market Street billboard plan last week was close because proponents hid the details over who would handle the funds coming from large ads, says the opposition's key organizer.

In a reprieve for San Francisco mental health services, Mayor Gavin Newsom restored funding to the decades-old Tenderloin Self Help Center, a drop-in counseling and service provider, according to Jackie Jenks, executive director of the parent organization, Central City Hospitality House.

Welcome to San Francisco’s lean and mean 2009 budget season. It’s going to be a brawl.

As Mayor Gavin Newsom seeks to eliminate a $438 million deficit, mainly through cuts to city staff and services, the board of supervisors and numerous opposition groups will be haggling over the brutal details through July 1.

While much of the current debate centers on how to spread the pain, some groups and supervisors are calling for new revenue measures to avoid decimating city services.

Proposition 1E proposes to divert a portion of the funds from Prop. 63 to the state general fund. Approved by voters in 2004, Prop. 63, also known as the Mental Health Services Act, is funded by an additional 1 percent income tax for Californians who earn more than $1 million. Prop. 63 has brought in between $900 million and $1.5 billion per year since its enactment, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO). However, Rusty Selix, executive director of the Mental Health Association in California, says Prop. 63 revenues are expected to drop “dramatically” in coming years as income tax revenues plummet.