General Obligation Bonds

The Plan anticipates $1.2 billion in General Obligation (G.O.) Bonds over the next 10 years. G.O. Bonds are backed by the City’s property tax revenue and are repaid directly out of property taxes through a fund held by the Treasurer’s Office. As a result of the successful passage of several bonds in the past few years, the capacity of the G.O. Bond Program is $1.5 billion (or 54 percent) lower than the previous 10-Year Capital Plan. This means the Plan is recommending fewer and smaller bonds than in previous years.    

Table 1.5 shows the Capital Plan’s G.O. Bond Program for the next 10 years.

Chart 1.1 illustrates the relationship between the G.O. Bond Program and the local property tax rate, including existing and outstanding issuance and voter-approved Bonds. This view shows the City’s policy constraint that G.O. Bonds will not increase the property tax rate above 2006 levels.

All future debt program amounts are estimates and may be adjusted.

Table 1.5

Chart 1.1

Certificates of Participation

The Plan anticipates $765 million in Certificates of Participation (COPs), also known as General Fund debt, over the next 10 years. COPs are backed by a physical asset in the City’s capital portfolio and repayments are appropriated each year out of the General Fund. While the overall COP program is $200 million lower than the previous Plan, it makes significant commitments in the early years to address reductions in the Pay-Go program and support projects to promote economic stimulus and racial equity.

Table 1.6 shows the Capital Plan’s COP Program for the next 10 years.

Chart 1.2 illustrates the COP program against the City’s policy constraint for General Fund debt not to exceed 3.25% of General Fund Discretionary Revenue.

All amounts attributed to future debt programs are estimates and may need to be adjusted.

Table 1.6

Chart 1.2

This Plan compiles information provided by the City’s Enterprise departments— the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency, San Francisco International Airport, and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Those departments have their own timelines and Commissions that govern their capital processes. The information in this Plan represents the best available at the time of publication. 

The Plan captures over $19 billion in Enterprise department capital investments during the next 10 years. 

Major projects identified in the last Plan such as the Seawall, the Transbay Transit Center, Pier 70, and SFO terminal improvements, are proceeding. Additional Enterprise department needs have arisen, notably the need to build adequate facilities to support our growing transit fleet. 

Table 1.4

Enterprise departments appear in the Plan’s G.O. Bond Program. The SFMTA passed a $500 million Transportation G.O. Bond in 2014, and the Seawall won approval for a $425 million General Obligation (G.O.) Bond in 2018. The next Transportation G.O. Bond is planned for 2026. 

The Enterprise departments also issue revenue bonds against the revenues generated from user fees, taxes, and surcharges. Table 1.4 shows the current amount of revenue bonds to be issued for each department over the 10-year term of this Plan. As with the G.O. Bond and COP Programs, all revenue bond issuances are subject to change based on market conditions and cash flow needs of the associated projects. 

For external agencies—City College of San Francisco, San Francisco Unified School District, the San Francisco Housing Authority, Treasure Island Development Agency, and the Office of Community Investment & Infrastructure (the successor agency to the Redevelopment Authority)—the Plan shows over $16 billion in capital investments over the next 10 years. As affordable housing funding supports the development of units that will ultimately be held and managed by third parties, planned investments in that area are represented as external, including those funds administered by the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development.

The Plan proposes funding the majority of the City’s ongoing annual needs with General Fund dollars through the Pay-As-You-Go (Pay-Go) Program. These are typically smaller investments to maintain facilities and infrastructure in a state of good repair or fund critical infrastructure needs. Within the Pay-Go Program, projects are categorized as Routine Maintenance, ADA Facilities, ADA Public Right-of-Way, Street Resurfacing, Critical Enhancements, Facility Renewal, and Right-of-Way Infrastructure Renewal. 

Table 1.3 provides a summary of the Plan’s planned funding for the Pay-Go Program by expenditure category. The planned investment over 10 years is $2.2 billion. While this level is almost $1 billion higher than the previous Plan, which was highly impacted in the early years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, funding in the near-term remains constrained. Some of this shortfall is made up by Certificate of Participation (COP) investments described below. 

General Fund departments primarily rely on the General Fund to support their infrastructure needs. Table 1.2 outlines a program summary of planned General Fund department investments, as well as projects deferred from the Plan due to funding limitations. These projects and more are discussed in the Plan's Service Area chapters.

Table 1.2

Policies governing the Plan are discussed in the Introduction as well as the Capital Sources chapter. The Plan also lays out a number of goals that continue key objectives from previous years, including robust funding for asset preservation, relocating critical City services to seismically sound facilities, and construction of several public infrastructure projects to improve services and quality of life. 

As shown in Table 1.1, this Plan captures $24.8 billion in recommended direct City investments and $16.7 billion in external agency investment, which total $41.4 billion in capital improvements citywide. This work is estimated to create over 173,000 local jobs over the next decade. 

Table 1.1

The Fiscal Year 2024-33 City and County of San Francisco Capital Plan (the Plan) is the City’s commitment to building a more resilient, equitable, and vibrant future for the residents, workers, and visitors of San Francisco. Updated every odd-numbered year, the Plan is a fiscally constrained expenditure plan that lays out anticipated infrastructure investments over the next decade. This document is the product of input from Citywide stakeholders, who have put forth their best ideas and most realistic estimates of San Francisco’s future needs. 

Projects in the Plan are divided into eight Service Areas: Affordable Housing; Economic and Neighborhood Development; General Government; Health and Human Services; Infrastructure and Streets; Public Safety; Recreation, Culture, and Education; and Transportation. Each Service Area chapter describes the associated Renewal Program, Enhancement Projects, Deferred Projects, and Emerging Needs. General Fund, Enterprise, and external agencies are all represented to give as full a picture of San Francisco’s capital needs as possible. 

Planned Project Highlights 

San Francisco has many competing needs, and the capital program is no exception. Major projects with funding identified in this Plan include: 

General Fund Departments

• Chinatown Public Health Center Seismic Retrofit
• 1001 Polk Street Shelter Project
• Replacement of the unsafe Hall of Justice 
• Park system renovations, including Portsmouth Square and India Basin 
• Neighborhood Fire Stations program 
• District Police Stations program 
• Replacement fire training facility
• ADA facilities and right-of-way barrier removal
• Zuckerberg San Francisco General and Laguna Honda Hospital campus improvements

Enterprise Departments

• Seawall strengthening
• SFMTA facilities
• Muni Forward 
• Vision Zero Pedestrian Safety Program 
• Water, Sewer, and Power Enterprise improvements 
• SFO Terminal 1 and 3 improvements 

External Agencies

• Affordable housing developments 
• Treasure Island redevelopment 
• City College seismic and code upgrades 
• Modernization of SFUSD sites