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LWV League of Women Voters of California
Smart Voter
San Francisco County, CA November 7, 2000 Election
Proposition B
District Aides
City of San Francisco
Charter Amendment, placed on the ballot by the Board of Supervisors (8-3). For: Ammiano, Becerril, Bierman, Brown, Katz, Leno, Teng, Yaki. Against: Kaufmann, Newsom, Yee

108,509 / 37.5% Yes votes ...... 181,033 / 62.5% No votes

See Also: Index of all Measures
Information shown below: Summary | Fiscal Impact | Arguments |

Shall the City allow each member of the Board of Supervisors to hire a third aide?

Summary:
Proposition B would amend the San Francisco City Charter to provide a third aide to assist each member of the Board of Supervisors. This would be a non-civil service position paying approximately $37,000 per year. The City Charter currently allows the hiring of two aides. A provision permitting the hiring of temporary employees, which has been used to hire third aides since 1997, will expire at the end of year 2000.

Fiscal Impact from the Controller:
Should the proposed Charter amendment be adopted, in my opinion, it would cost approximately $300,000 in fiscal year 2000-01 and $600,000 annually thereafter to fund a third aide dedicated to district services. Since the funds to support these positions are available within the current Board of Supervisors' budget, it would not require an additional appropriation of funds.

Arguments Submitted

Summary of Arguments FOR Proposition B:
Proposition B would permit the hiring of a third aide to each district supervisor. The third aide is integral to the district supervisors ability to respond to constituent needs in a timely and effective manner.

Without the third aide, each district supervisor will have only two legislative assistants to handle constituent requests (which increased with email and facsimile options), answer phones, review proposed legislation by the mayor and the Board, and review the City's budget. The third aide works long hours on behalf of the public.

Summary of Arguments AGAINST Proposition B:
Proposition B is an unnecessary expenditure of taxpayer money that will serve to only increase the City's bureaucracy.

The supervisors are elected by district to enable better representattion of and responsiveness to contituents. Because each district supervisor will represent not an entire city, but a district within the City, each district supervisor will have more time and more opportunities to meet the needs of district constituents.

A district supervisor can rely upon two legislative aides, the aides available to the Board of Supervisors in toto, the advice of the City Attorney, volunteers, and neighborhood meetings in their district rather than permanently hire a third aide.

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Created: January 25, 2001 02:34
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