Despite Mayor Daniel Lurie’s warnings that he would have to slash San Francisco’s budget amid a massive deficit, two city departments vital to public safety avoided cuts to their agencies.
The district attorney’s and public defender’s offices will both maintain their previous funding levels in Lurie’s final budget proposal, according to sources familiar with the mayor’s fiscal plan.
The district attorney’s office confirmed to The Standard that it will keep its funding, while representatives for the public defender’s office said they were told the same information but wanted to see the numbers in writing.
Other public safety agencies will also evade the slash and burn of budget season: The San Francisco Police Department, San Francisco Fire Department, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, and 911 dispatchers will all be spared, sources confirmed to The Standard.
Facing a total $782-million deficit, Lurie in January ordered city agencies to slash 15% of their budgets, drawing outcry from department heads who warned the drastic cuts would affect services.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins warned that a proposed $5.4 million reduction to her office would force her to lay off 25 junior prosecutors, including those handling fentanyl cases. Those cuts would undermine Lurie’s efforts to crack down on public drug use and dealers in San Francisco, she said.
The mayor’s office declined to comment directly on budget details. But in a statement to The Standard, Lurie said, “Public safety and a fair justice system are foundational to San Francisco’s recovery.
“I am committed to protecting the core services that keep our communities safe — and that includes the people on the front lines, both in the courtroom and on the street,” Lurie added.
The mayor is expected to unveil his full budget blueprint near the June 1 deadline, kicking off a month-long negotiations sprint with the Board of Supervisors before the final budget is due. Labor leaders, nonprofit heads, and city officials have for weeks been on tenterhooks to learn what agencies and contracts could be slashed in Lurie’s efforts to plug the deficit.
Budget negotiations have already revealed potential services on the chopping block: street cleaning, downtown Muni services, and even Fleet Week disaster planning.
Lurie faced the daunting task of balancing his promise of greater fiscal austerity at City Hall with his campaign pledge to increase public safety in San Francisco.
Under Lurie’s draft blueprint, the district attorney’s office is set to receive $89.2 million for fiscal year 2025-26 and $92.4 million for 2026-27. It’s a slight increase from the $85.7 million awarded to the district attorney’s office in former Mayor London Breed’s final budget and represents previously promised salary increases.
Lurie’s proposal would also bump the public defender’s budget to $57.6 million in 2025-26 and $58.1 million in 2026-27 — a small increase from its allotted $55.4 million in 2024-25. The extra funding would pay mostly for expert witnesses and professional services contracts.
Lurie’s decision to maintain funding levels for the district attorney’s office allows him to avoid escalating a public feud with those on the front lines of fulfilling his public safety plans.
In an April 22 letter to Lurie’s budget office obtained exclusively by The Standard, Jenkins warned she would have to make layoffs and “suspend prosecuting entire categories of crimes” if the mayor carried out his budget reductions. It was the first public spat between Jenkins and Lurie, who has prioritized collegiality in City Hall.
“Mayor Lurie’s decision not to cut funding to our office is a testament to his commitment to prioritizing public safety and making sure that law enforcement agencies like ours have the staff and resources needed to get the job done,” Jenkins said in a statement.
The public defender’s office said the budget still falls short of providing necessary resources to keep up with Lurie’s push for more fentanyl-related arrests. The office’s chief attorney, Matt Gonzalez, told the San Francisco Superior Court this month that the department was “unavailable,” a legal function that effectively closes the office to new cases one day a week.
The public defender’s office learned of the final budget decision through The Standard’s inquiry.
Angela Chan, a high-level staffer at the office, said attorneys would continue to struggle to maintain caseloads and take on new clients even with the sustained funding. Chan said the office still plans to stay closed to new cases one day a week and will request more funding from the Board of Supervisors during June budget negotiations.
“If we stay flat, and the police and sheriff get tens of millions more dollars, that’s basically a cut for us,” she said. “That means more arrests and no additional staffing to deal with those cases.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with budget information for additional public safety agencies.