Mayor Proposes $4.8-Billion Budget

After months of dire predictions, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown proposed a new city budget Monday to close a $347-million deficit through a combination of labor concessions, cuts in services and fee increases.

At $4.8 billion, the mayor’s spending plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1 is $211 million smaller than this year’s, but averts some of the deep reductions in jobs and services that his administration had warned might be necessary.

Under the plan, 750 of the city’s 27,000 positions would be cut through layoffs, attrition and reassignments. About 350 people are expected to lose their jobs, said a Brown spokesman.