Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection – BGA Policy 2027 Budget Snapshot

The Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection's budget increased dramatically after the infusion of federal pandemic relief funds beginning in the 2021 budget and reaching their peak in the 2022-2024 budget years.

Like other ARPA-recipient departments, BACP has since seen substantial budget decreases, down roughly -57% from its 2023 high point. The current proposal would be the first BACP budget increase since that high point, with a slight 1% uptick in departmental appropriations.

Estimated Fringe Costs

City budgets do not break out "fringe" pension and benefit costs for non-grant positions by department, instead grouping them together as citywide expenses under the Finance General section of the budget. To better reflect the real cost of service for departmental operations, BGA Policy has included an estimate of pension and benefit costs for the years 2018-2026, using Department of Finance fringe memos from each relevant year. An estimated fringe cost for the 2027 proposal uses the average annual rate of increase for each of the inputs into the fringe formulae.

Based on the city's fringe formulae, the BACP fringe cost for nongrant employees averaged 22.8% from 2018-2026, compared to a citywide average of 26.8%.

Local Fund Actual Spend

Over the past four complete budget years for which local fund actuals/encumbrances data is available, BACP spent on average 91.5% of its locally funded budget, compared to the citywide average 86.6% local fund spend.

Budgeted Positions & Vacancies

Staffing levels at BACP have remained relatively stable over the years, with a slight increase in fluctuations during the pandemic. Overall, the department's budgeted headcount grew at an average annual rate of 0.3% from 2011-2026, compared to a citywide average annual change of -0.1%. The current proposal cuts 11 positions, reducing total budgeted positions/FTEs by -5.1%

From January through September of 2026, the months for which full-time position vacancy data is currently available, BACP averaged a 13% vacancy rate, compared to the citywide average of 11.2%.

19 of the department's budgeted full-time positions were persistent vacancies (defined as the number of positions within the same combination of title, subsection, section, division, department, and fund codes that remained vacant in all nine months of available data):