OAKLAND — Facing political and public pressure, Mayor Libby Schaaf on Tuesday backed away from a plan to divert funds from a voter-approved soda tax measure after residents threatened to campaign against her re-election.

Related Articles Mayor Schaaf’s ‘bait and switch’ on soda tax revenue? Last week, Schaaf unveiled her proposed 2017-19 budget and quickly drew criticism from City Council members, including ally Annie Campbell Washington, for proposing to use the soda tax revenues to help close the city’s budget deficit.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Campbell Washington, Rebecca Kaplan and Desley Brooks, the co-authors of Measure HH, said the mayor’s plan would bring a backlash from voters who were promised the funds would be spent to help fight childhood obesity and soda consumption.

They also said “big soda” would use the “bait and switch” on Oakland voters to fight soda tax measures in other cities. Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco and Albany are among the first in the nation to pass such a tax, a growing trend in progressive and urban areas.

Because Measure HH, a penny-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, is a general tax, the funds could be used to pay for anything in the city’s general fund, but during the November 2016 campaign, supporters promised that wouldn’t happen.

“What is completely unacceptable is to just completely destroy the public trust that was built when we went door to door about these dollars,” Campbell Washington said. “Last night when I told my 10-year-old son what was happening here at City Council, his look of shock was heartbreaking because children got involved in this campaign.

“He said, ‘Mommy, that means anyone who voted for the soda tax is going to regret their vote.’”

More than two dozen speakers, many supporters of the soda tax, expressed shock and anger.

“This money grab may be legal but it’s not right,” said Barbara Benzwi, a doctor at La Clinica De La Raza in the Fruitvale district. “If you divert the funds, the next campaign I will work on and pound pavement for is one to unseat you,” referring to Schaaf.

Schaaf had proposed using the money before the formation of the soda tax advisory board, a group created by Measure HH to help decide how to spend the tax revenue. Schaaf earlier in the meeting urged the City Council to quickly assemble the board. Kaplan said as of Tuesday evening the mayor’s website had no place for people to apply.

After hearing from residents and council, Schaaf said, “There’s no question this budget is legally compliant with HH. The question was whether it complied with the spirit. I have heard loud and clear in the very short time this proposal has been public it does not. It is my intent that the full spirit of HH is respected in the final budget.”

The budget, which is roughly $1.3 billion in each of the next two years, includes a $32.5 million deficit. Schaaf said while there is small growth in the city’s economy, the costs of city services are growing at a faster rate.

Schaaf pointed to escalating costs in CalPERS, the retirement system for city employees, and the debt from renovating the Coliseum as examples of long-standing costs that need to be covered. Her budget calls for paying down negative CalPERS fund balances and spending $20 million toward future unfunded medical retirement benefits.

At the same time, the mayor will not add new city positions unless they are covered by new revenue. One area Schaaf expects to expand is the city’s fire inspection bureau, increasing the number of inspectors from eight to 20. Those positions would be paid from inspection fees, not the general fund.

The City Council will discuss the budget in more detail at a meeting later this month.