When Daniel Lurie isn’t busy aura farming or siccing his goons on the homeless, he’s dismissing employees from City Hall. Mayor Lurie, 49, executed the first round of layoffs early this morning, eliminating positions in the Department of Public Health, the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, the City Administrator’s Office, SFPD, and the Human Services Agency. Confirmed by SFGATE and the San Francisco Standard, 127 civic workers are now jobless, with more layoffs on the way.
Round Two is yet to come.
“As long as I’ve been mayor, our administration has worked to make government serve San Franciscans more effectively and support our economic recovery, now and for years to come. Facing a budget deficit that will rise to $1 billion, alongside significant cuts in federal and state funding, we have a choice: take action now or be forced to do twice as much in the coming years. The steps we’re taking today are a painful but necessary continuation of the work we’ve been doing since last year to manage taxpayer dollars responsibly and deliver the best possible services for San Franciscans.”
Mayor Lurie also says he plans to lay off 500 more city employees. The next round of cuts could coincide with the approval of this year’s proposed budget, approximately the end of May, or early June. SF Standard also learned that the mayor’s office has instituted a civic hiring freeze, leaving around 2,000 positions vacant. The blame for San Francisco’s financial woes reportedly rests on Trump’s slumped shoulders, specifically his local healthcare-gutting “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Last December, the mayor announced plans for a $400 million budget cut, $100 million of which will come from layoffs. Lurie’s layoffs reflect San Francisco’s professed drastic budget deficit of $643 million, maybe more. The Standard reported the $643,000,000 figure is actually down from an outstanding $936 million. In March, city budget office director Sophia Kittler told KPIX-TV the mayor’s office will need to cut at least 500 jobs, meaning the real figure could be much higher.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie adopts a defensive posture at some tech conference in 2025. Creative commons.
Potential backlash
Daniel Lurie’s plan of attack seems more aggressive than the layoffs he made in 2025. Last year, he eliminated “only” 150 jobs. However, some 110 employees successfully negotiated their jobs back from the Board of Supervisors just as budget talks wrapped for the summer. This year, that leniency looks absent as Lurie starts gutting departments like they were shops in Westfield Mall. Maybe Mayor Lurie’s return-to-office mandate for thousands of civic employees early in his term was not entirely thought through.
The SF Standard’s perspective sounds initially as dismissive as Daniel Lurie. As Politics Reporter Gabe Greschler put it, these layoffs are “a small slice of the city’s workforce of about 34,000.” He packs 500 people, about six crowded bendy buses’ worth, behind a mere 1.5% loss. Hundreds of San Franciscans will find themselves incomeless right as Trump’s Big Burdensome Bill begins to raze EBT assistance nationwide. Redeemably, the Standard also turned to the city’s public sector unions, SEIU 1021 and IFPTE Local 21, for their take.
To the shock of no one, union reps are pissed. A campaign to stave off the layoffs will be on the June 2 ballot under the Overpaid CEO Tax measure. Members from both unions estimate a $200 million contribution to the city’s general fund is in store if voters approve. Unsurprisingly, serious rifts between essential employees—sanitation workers, healthcare professionals, water/sewage treatment experts and beyond—and Mayor Lurie may form. In 2025, a party leader was arrested in the Board of Supervisors’ chambers.
These layoffs will also overlap with a proposed combined 23% water bill increase, beginning this July. The Public Utilities Commission needs that funding to service and upgrade San Francisco’s aging water and sewer network. Officials warned ABC7 the longer City Hall waits, the costlier the improvements and repairs become. I can’t imagine how cutting more than 500 jobs with the city wouldn’t hinder efforts to improve critical infrastructure. It’s possible one of those roles would’ve aided in replacing SF’s decrepit sewer pipes in a redefining way.
It often happens when those in charge make sweeping cuts over selective trimming. Some vital thread gets caught in the bundle and inevitably severed with the rest. Is that what’s happening in City Hall? It’s hard to tell at the moment. In medicine, it’s immediately obvious when you pierce a main artery; hemorrhage occurs, blood pressure tanks. In a government body though, systemic movement is much slower. The results of Lurie’s layoffs could take months, even a few years to manifest. We might have a while to wait before we see the consequences.
“What we know so far is that the cuts are drastic and are going to be felt in every corner of San Francisco,” SEIU 1021 and IFPTE Local 21 offered in a joint statement. “City workers are deeply concerned that these cuts will further strain already understaffed departments that keep San Francisco clean, safe, and livable.” They’re right to be concerned, as should we. It’s increasingly likely the fallout from Daniel Lurie’s layoffs will settle on your block.
