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Mayor Ed Lee said Thursday he will
use city funds to restore more than $6 million in federal HIV/AIDS cuts to San
Francisco.
San Francisco faced Ryan White
reductions of about $4.6 million in fiscal year 2012-13 and CDC cuts of around
$3.1 million, causing concern among city officials and service providers. Lee
is able to restore $6.6 million “because of a smaller reduction than expected”
from the city’s Ryan White Part B award, spokesperson Francis Tsang said in an
e-mail.
Supervisor Scott Wiener said Thursday
he has been working “very closely” with the mayor and his staff for six months
to backfill federal funds for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. At a town hall
on the city budget in April, Lee said his administration had not come to a
decision, but was working to pay for the cuts with local dollars. “It is up to
us to find that money,” Lee said.
“Tax revenue has been trending up,”
said Wiener, noting San Francisco has a projected budget shortfall of $150
million, down from an expected $170 million. “The wild card in all this” will
be the state and federal governments, he said, referring to Gov. Jerry Brown’s
recent announcement that he wants to cut more than $8 billion from California’s
budget to help close a gap of nearly $16 billion.
Lee is due to submit his budget
proposal to supervisors on June 1, said spokesperson Christine Falvey. The
mayor has asked HIV/AIDS-related organizations to begin looking at 2013-14 cuts
during the next few months, she said. The mayor wants “an open dialogue” with these
groups using the same “collaborative approach that resulted in this funding
restoration,” she said.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
