Sheriff MD: The city's second-largest law enforcement agency is poised to get a little bigger. Sheriff Mike Hennessey is aiming to take on security duties for Laguna Honda and San Francisco General Hospitals. "The deal is 99 percent done," Hennessey said. The arrangement would transfer policing responsibilities from the San Francisco Department of Public Health, which maintains a small police force of 69 officers, to the Sheriff's Department. It would cement a process that began about six months ago when Hennessey's deputies started supervising health department cops. If the deal goes through, the hospital cops will be allowed, after further training, to join the Sheriff's Department – a fact that's provoked grumbling among some of Hennessey's 850 deputies. From the sheriff's perspective, though, it's a sweet deal. One, it'll mean more sworn, state-certified peace officers at the hospitals. Two, it'll offer his employees, who now spend the vast bulk of their time working within the confines of the six county lockups, more options. "It'll give us more job variety, so that employees have a place to work besides the jails," Hennessey said. Unfortunately, it'll also cost taxpayers, since deputies make up to $64,000 a year – about $12,000 more than hospital officers. "There will be increased costs as the officers transition into the Sheriff's Department," said Edward M. Gazzano, human resources director for the Department of Public Health. Apparently money is the only thing holding up the deal: city officials are hoping Sacramento will include funding for the transition in the upcoming budget. Perhaps that's why health department head Mitchell Katz, M.D., won't put a date on the transition. "At this point," Katz said, "nothing's changed." (A.C. Thompson)

Budget blues: Sups. Sophie Maxwell and Aaron Peskin asked Controller Ed Harrington, budget analyst Harvey Rose, and the Mayor's Office of Finance to break down the city's financial situation for next year's budget.

And it doesn't look too rosy. At the Board of Supervisors Budget Committee's Aug. 13 hearing, the city's chief financial experts told the two supes to expect a $154.1 million deficit in fiscal year 2003-04.

Here's why: The 2002-03 budget, which the supes and the mayor just passed, was balanced by a host of onetime fixes. Officials dipped into the city's cash reserves and took out $37 million. Second, this year's budget relies on a onetime deal with the city's unions under which workers will pay about 3 percent of their pension costs from their own pockets. (In exchange, they are expecting a 1 percent wage increase at the end next spring.) Third, $17 million for the 2002-03 budget came from taking $12 million away from the juvenile hall replacement fund, and $5 million trickled in from the sale of surplus city property.

In addition, the budget made use of $11 million shifted from money set aside for San Francisco General Hospital, the Downtown Park Fund and, alas, the Children's Fund.

Such dough is unlikely to be lying around next year.

Too bad the mayor and the supes failed to overhaul spending and revenue sources in a major way in time for the 2002-03 budget. Here's hoping they do that in time for next year. (Savannah Blackwell)

How is that possible? Former supervisor Sue Bierman had a good one for Sup. Gavin Newsom at the last Democratic County Central Committee meeting. The committee had convened Aug. 17 to hear from proponents and opponents of the 19 ballot initiatives slated to go before San Francisco voters Nov. 5. During Newsom's pitch for the ironically named Care Not Cash measure (really, the proposal should simply be called Cash Cut Off – since it calls for taking all but $59 a month away from each of the roughly 3,000 homeless people targeted by the legislation), Bierman queried, "How are you supposed to live on $1.95 a day?"