SFMTA Launches Major Reorganization to Address Mounting Budget Shortfall

After laying off 12 managers on Wednesday, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is consolidating divisions as part of a restructuring effort amid a looming $322 million budget deficit.

In a memo sent to staff on Friday, Director of Transportation Julie Kirschbaum said that the reorganization reduces the number of her direct reports from 10 to six.

“We do not have the luxury of time,” Kirschbaum wrote. “We faced immense challenges in the pandemic and navigated them with creativity and innovation. Now, San Francisco’s recovery depends on a financially stable SFMTA and a reliable, safe and clean Muni system.”

The restructuring involves the creation of a new administration division led by Virginia Harmon, who is currently the interim director of SFMTA’s Office of Civil Rights.

Kirschbaum collapsed multiple communications offices — including the Office of the Chief Strategy Officer and the Communications, Marketing, & Outreach Division — into the Chief of Staff & External Affairs Division. Judson True will lead the new division, replacing acting Chief of Staff Kamini Lall, who will now serve as deputy chief of staff.

“By bringing those teams together along with our Chief of Staff office, we now have a single group focusing on how to continue to build trust with community stakeholders as well as to make sure everybody within the agency knows about all of the great work that we’re doing,” Kirschbaum told KQED.

In a Wednesday staff memo announcing the release of 12 managers, Kirschbaum said the main goal of the restructuring was to reduce redundancies within the agency.

“These changes are necessary to reduce duplicative roles and the confusion that comes from overlapping and unclear responsibilities,” she wrote.

Other divisions that have been absorbed or consolidated include Human Resources, which is moving under the new Administration Division; Finance & IT, which will become the Finance Division; and Taxis, Access & Mobility Services, which will now be under the Streets Division.

The restructuring announcement comes just after Kirschbaum’s term hit the 100-day mark. She previously served as acting director of transportation until Mayor Daniel Lurie appointed her to the position permanently in February.

Her biggest challenge is the $50 million deficit for the 2025–26 fiscal year, which she described in the Friday staff memo as the agency’s “most formidable task.” The deficit could balloon to $322 million by the 2026–27 fiscal year, which could force SFMTA to make major cuts and hike service fees, in addition to those already approved earlier this month.

The consolidated Finance Division will have a new unit focused on revenue growth, Kirschbaum said in the Friday staff memo. She said the team will “build strong partnerships and drive the complex analytical work required to pick up where the Muni Funding Working Group left off to work toward a balanced budget.”

“The safety of everyone using our streets depends on our delivery of multimodal improvements across the city. We need to organize our work to meet these goals,” she wrote.