This hearing will discuss releasing over $13 million in reserved funds for the Planning Department and the Department of Building Inspection to support the PermitSF program and hire temporary staff. The funds are allocated for the fiscal years 2026-2027 and 2027-2028.
Hearing to consider the release of reserved funds to the Planning Department and Department of Building Inspection (DBI), placed on Budget and Finance Committee reserve by Ordinance No. 140-26, in the amount of $5,049,224 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2026-2027 and $7,663,478 in FY2027-2028 for the Planning Department to fund City’s PermitSF’s license and professional services; and $272,513 in FY2026-2027 and $293,862 in FY2027-2028 for DBI to fund temporary City project implementation staff for PermitSF.
How it got here
This legislation originated from the need to release reserved funds for the PermitSF initiative, aimed at reforming the city's permitting processes.
The Board adopted Ordinance No. 140-26, which placed certain funds on reserve for the Planning Department and Department of Building Inspection to support the PermitSF initiative.
The Planning Department and DBI submitted a request to the Budget and Finance Committee to release reserved funds totaling $5,049,224 for FY 2026-2027 and $7,663,478 for FY 2027-2028 for the PermitSF initiative.
The Budget and Finance Committee scheduled a hearing to consider the release of the reserved funds as part of the agenda for their September 2, 2026 meeting.
The Office of the Inspector General notified the Budget and Finance Committee that they are conducting an evaluation of the DBI's compliance with previous recommendations regarding the permitting process, which includes the proposed OpenGov software.
Reconstructed from attached documents & the official record