Over the 10-year timeframe of this Capital Plan, the City will fund many of our ongoing annual needs with funds from the San Francisco General Fund, the source of the Pay-As-You-Go Program (“Pay-Go”). The General Fund is comprised of various taxes collected by the City, which include property, sales, business, and hotel taxes, and is the primary funding stream for nearly all City programs and services. The General Fund is an appropriate funding mechanism because San Francisco residents, businesses, and visitors alike benefit from the capital investments laid out in this plan. 

Improvements paid through the Pay-Go Program tend to be smaller in scale than programs that require debt financing over a multi-year period. By using the Pay-Go Program for short-term improvements, the City is less reliant on debt financing, and ultimately spends less money to deliver those projects. Pay-Go strikes an important balance between paying for improvements today, and issuing debt which will be largely be borne by users of those improvements in the future. Within the Pay-Go Program, Routine Maintenance, ADA Transition Plans for Facilities and Public Right-of-Way, and Street Resurfacing are recommended for full funding.

For more information on the Pay-Go Program, please see Chapter 2: Introduction.