Another million-dollar tax settlement, a hearing on medical insurance denials and spaying and neutering of dogs are among the highlights this week at the Board of Supervisors when they return from their spring recess on Monday.
The Board’s Rules Committee will meet on Monday morning and consider among other items the appointment by Board President Rafael Mandelman of Lily Wong to the Board of Permit Appeals. Wong is currently director at the Sunset Chinese Cultural District and is a former program manager at Chinese for Affirmative Action. Assuming the appointment clears Monday’s committee meeting, final approval will be made by the full board Tuesday.
Also on Tuesday, the board will approve, likely as consent items, a number of legal and other claims, but one that stands out given the city’s fiscal health and the coming June election is a settlement of unlitigated claims against the city over overpayment of various business taxes by Pacific Bell for $2,179,415. The settlement was recommended by the Government Audit and Oversight Committee on March 27.
The San Francisco SPCA and the Coalition on Homelessness voiced objections to the bill despite the fact that it would likely and significantly reduce euthanasia rates which have spiked since the pandemic.
San Francisco continues to face significant budget issues, including a General Fund shortfall of $642.8 million, in turn bringing attention to multiple high-value business tax refunds. These include refunds of the city’s “overpaid CEO tax” that voters approved in 2020 but then also approved modifications to in 2024, over revenue loss concerns. Voters face dueling measures over which way to go with this controversial tax this June.
(Update: The Mayor’s Budget Office contacted The Voice with regard to tax settlement refunds contributing to the budget deficit. They note that the taxpayer has already paid the City in full by the time they make any claim, and the city maintains reserves for disputed amounts until any cases are resolved. When a case is resolved, any amount not required to satisfy the claim can be appropriated.)
Also up for a vote is yet another waiver of the city’s behested payments ordinance that sought to control solicitation of private donations to support public assets by elected or appointed officials, applicable to donations benefiting crime victims. If passed, which seems likely as the item is sponsored by a majority of supervisors, the resolution will create the 26th exception to the ordinance since it was passed after a lengthy process in 2021.
On Wednesday, the Budget and Finance Committee will hold a hearing to address the alleged denial of care services to retired San Francisco firefighters and others by Blue Cross Blue Shield of California. The retirees were denied treatment for work-related cancer cases, and the city’s Health Service Board had been urged to intervene. The Health Services Board sided with Blue Shield in a recent case involving a firefighter with Stage 4 cancer seeking immunotherapy treatment. Meanwhile, the state Office of Managed Health Care fined Anthem Blue Cross $3.5 million in 2024 over a series of delayed and denied claims.
Finally the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee will again review a bill to institute mandatory spaying or neutering for all dogs in the city. Currently, the rule only applies to pit bulls. The item was continued from March 12 to allow for amendments. The San Francisco SPCA and the Coalition on Homelessness voiced objections to the bill despite the fact that it would likely and significantly reduce euthanasia rates which have spiked since the pandemic.
