California IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : Planning Costs Too High, Study Finds

A new report shows that the city of San Francisco is spending as much as a $250,000 a year more than necessary on planning and architecture. The report, released Wednesday by the city’s budget analyst, shows that the city spent money on outside planners and architects for jobs that could be carried out by staff. The outside technicians cost as much as $25 an hour more than in-house employees. The report was commissioned by Supervisor Terence Hallinan, who said the difference in fees worked out to about $250,000 a year. Hallinan said that following the report’s recommendations could help reduce next year’s projected $200-million budget deficit. “There is a staff of perfectly competent planners over there, who basically sit there in between their projects and waste time on city money,” Hallinan said. The report recommended the creation of a commission to better coordinate projects and suggested that city departments be required to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of proposed services. It also criticized city planning as too decentralized.