By NICHOLAS KUSNETZ
District 9 Supervisor David Campos said Wednesday that in trying to make up the city’s $575 million budget shortfall the mayor’s office is focusing too much on cuts rather than generating more revenue. The former, he said, are more than just numbers on a page.
“I’m afraid that literally, people are going to die,” he said at the Wednesday meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee.
Some of the biggest cuts will come from the Department of Public Health, which has been asked to slash more than $100 million from its budget. The only specific public health proposal discussed at the hearing was a potential $1 million reduction in HIV prevention spending.
“We’re looking at a lot of sick people that are going to be on our streets,” said Jazzie Collins, a community activist who was among the dozen or so residents attending the hearing.
The Board of Supervisors expanded the committee from three supervisors to five during budget season. The hearing is part of the process to develop a final budget to submit to the Board of Supervisors in June.
The mayor’s office gave a deadline of Feb. 20 for all city departments to submit budget proposals for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. The proposals heard on Wednesday, which also included that of the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families and the Human Services Agency, had been submitted but are still works in progress.
While the details of the effects of the cuts are difficult to predict, health officials said many people will not receive services that are currently administered.
“We believe that at least 6,500 people will lose their outpatient services,” said Kavoos G. Bassiri, CEO of Richmond Area Multi-Services Inc., which provides mental health services. Bassiri was not at the meeting but made the comments in a phone interview on Tuesday.
He estimated another 3,500 people receiving treatment for substance abuse will lose their services.
A proposal submitted by the Department of Public Health in mid February had more than $4 million in cuts to mental health contractors across the city, although that proposal has since been amended. Among those contractors is the Conard House, which provides supportive housing and outpatient services and is looking at losing more than $500,000, or a little less than a tenth of the organization’s funding from public health.
Executive Director Richard Heasley said he is hopeful that over the next few months, funding for the most important services can be saved.
“We do not see this as a done deal,” he said, adding that it is important not to cut corners in serving patients.