Where the money comes from
The other half of the story. The $16.9B budget is paid for by nine kinds of revenue, sized here to scale. Most of it is raised at home; the piece that's shrinking is the money from Washington.
Local Taxes $6.5B
Charges for Services $5.5B
State $1.4B
Use of Money or Property $1.1B
Use of / (Deposit to) Fund Balance $737M
Other Revenues $655M
Federal $605M
Licenses & Fines $248M
Other $178M
71¢ of every budget dollar is raised by the city itself — through local taxes and the fees it charges for services
San Francisco pays for most of itself. Only about an eighth of the budget comes from Washington and Sacramento combined — real independence, and real exposure: when the local economy slows or federal help shrinks, there's no larger government to absorb it.
This year, federal money fell $197M — about a quarter of it, the biggest drop of any source. To balance, the budget leans on a $625M rise in local taxes and draws down $737M in reserves. But that tax rise is shakier than it looks: most of it is a one-time shift in when business taxes are collected (a filing-deadline change from Prop M that reverses next year) plus a recovering real-estate market — while property tax, the city's bedrock, stays weak. So the budget balances now, largely on money that's one-time or economy-dependent.
That one-time bump reverses next year — and the fix voters could have passed failed
The one-time business-tax bump disappears in 2027-28 — the same year a new, permanent source could have started. In June 2026, voters rejected Proposition D, the "overpaid CEO tax," which the City Controller estimated would raise $250–300 million a year for the General Fund beginning in 2027 (the Controller also flagged a risk that some businesses could relocate). With Prop D defeated and the one-time bump reversing, the budget heads into next year leaning even harder on reserves and the local economy.
- Local taxes (property, business, sales, hotel…) $6.5B +10.7%
- Charges for services (fees, the airport, the port, utilities…) $5.5B +1.9%
- State money $1.4B +3.7%
- Use of money & property (interest, rent, leases) $1.1B +7.6%
- Reserves drawn down (prior-year fund balance) $737M +31.1%
- Other revenues $655M +60.4%
- Federal money $605M -24.5%
- Licenses & fines $248M -4.4%
- Other intergovernmental (regional, grants) $178M -53.8%
Source: Mayor's Proposed June 1 Budget Book, FY2026-27 & FY2027-28 — citywide sources of funds, machine-extracted and verified to the published total of $16.9B. Change compares FY2026-27 proposed to the FY2025-26 budget. "Reserves drawn down" is prior-year fund balance the budget spends this year, not new money coming in. Business-tax detail and the one-time Prop M filing shift: budget book pp.50-52. Prop D figures: City Controller's revenue estimate; June 2, 2026 election results.