Mayor to unveil city's new budget today

And could there be anything more exciting? Good news: the new budget will allow for increased funding for the police and fire departments. Some of these funds will pay for new police cadet classes for the understaffed department and for the firefighters' recent raise. Health care costs are also expected to go up, while the entire budget will go up less than 4%. Overall, it is likely that there will be little for most people to celebrate or to worry about in the new budget.

There is concern over the city's pension funds, however. When the mayor took office, the city had a $1.9 billion liability in the municipal employees pension funds, which he quickly began working down. The mayor's reform program more than cut this number in half, and was lauded at the time it began. Now, Mayor White says the city cannot afford to pay an estimated $39 million in the next budget to resume statutory annual contribution levels while maintaining current city staffing levels and services, including the aforementioned police cadet classes and pay raises for firefighters. City Controller Anisse Parker, a likely successor to Mayor White, said that this amount "is insupportable for any type of institution." The City intends to pay about 65% of the $39 million to save money for other, more urgent priorities.

In Mayor White's letter to the Chronicle yesterday, he indicated that the City is not breaking any promise and that he will "look forward to working with the municipal pension board to keep the city's contribution affordable and sustainable to make municipal pensions more secure and to give employees more options." The Executive Director of the Municipal Employees Pension System, David Long, responded in a letter of his own today, reminding the mayor not to "forget the law." Is this just politics or is it evidence of a more personal feud between the Mayor and David Long? In his most recent podcast, City Hall reporter Matt Stiles revealed the Mayor's dislike for the man he called David "Feather Your Own Nest" Long. We'll keep watching this story as it unfolds.