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The Board of Supervisors is hereby authorized to provide for the issuance of revenue bonds. Revenue bonds shall be issued only with the assent of a majority of the voters upon any proposition for the issuance of revenue bonds, except that no voter approval shall be required with respect to revenue bonds:
1. Approved by three-fourths of all the Board of Supervisors if the bonds are to finance buildings, fixtures or equipment which are deemed necessary by the Board of Supervisors to comply with an order of a duly constituted state or federal authority having jurisdiction over the subject matter;
2. Approved by the Board of Supervisors prior to January 1, 1977;
3. Approved by the Board of Supervisors if the bonds are to establish a fund for the purpose of financing or refinancing for acquisition, construction or rehabilitation of housing in the City and County;
4. Authorized and issued by the Port Commission for any Port-related purpose and secured solely by Port revenues, or authorized and issued for any Airport-related purpose and secured solely by Airport revenues;
5. Issued for the proposes of assisting private parties and not-for-profit entities in the financing and refinancing of the acquisition, construction, reconstruction or equipping of any improvement for industrial, manufacturing, research and development, commercial and energy uses or other facilities and activities incidental thereto, provided the bonds are not secured or payable from any monies of the City and County or its commissions.
6. Issued for the purpose of the reconstruction or replacement of existing water facilities or electric power facilities or combinations of water and electric power facilities under the jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Commission, when authorized by resolution adopted by a three-fourths affirmative vote of all members of the Board of Supervisors.
7. Approved and authorized by the Board of Supervisors and secured solely by an assessment imposed by the City.
8. Issued to finance or refinance the acquisition, construction, installation, equipping, improvement or rehabilitation of equipment or facilities for renewable energy and energy conservation.
Except as expressly provided in this Charter, all revenue bonds may be issued and sold in accordance with state law or any procedure provided for by ordinance.
(Amended November 2001)
The City and County may enter into lease financing agreements only with the assent of the majority of the voters voting upon any proposition for the authorization of the lease financing. As used in this section, lease financing shall mean any lease or sublease made between the City and County and any public agency or authority, a non-profit corporation or a retirement system for the purpose of financing the acquisition, construction or improvement by the City and County of real property or equipment.
The requirements of this section do not apply to:
1. Any lease financing which was approved in fact or in principle by a resolution or ordinance adopted by the Board of Supervisors prior to April 1, 1977; provided, that if the resolution or ordinance approved the lease financing only in principle, the resolution or ordinance must describe in general terms the public improvements or equipment to be financed; or
2. The amendment or the refunding of a lease financing which is expected to result in net savings in rental payments to the City and County on a present value basis, calculated as provided by ordinance; or
3. Lease financing involving a nonprofit corporation established for the purpose of this subsection for the acquisition of equipment, the obligations or evidence of indebtedness with respect to which shall not exceed in the aggregate at any point in time a principal amount of $20 million, such amount to be increased by five percent each fiscal year commencing with fiscal year 1990-1991; provided, however, that prior to each sale of such obligations or evidence of indebtedness, the Controller certifies that in his or her opinion the net interest cost to the City will be lower than other financings involving a lease or leases.
The Board of Supervisors is hereby authorized to provide for the issuance of bonds of the City and County for the purpose of refunding any general obligation or revenue bonds of the City and County then outstanding. No voter approval shall be required for the authorization, issuance and sale of refunding bonds, which are expected to result in net debt service savings to the City and County on a present value basis, calculated as provided by ordinance.
Proceedings for the authorization and issuance of bonds for the acquisition, construction or completion of any public utility or utilities may be initiated by electors in the following manner: Whenever a petition, signed by qualified electors of the City and County equal in number to at least fifteen percent of the votes cast for all candidates for Mayor at the last proceeding general municipal election for Mayor, requesting the Board of Supervisors to submit to the voters of the City and County a proposition or propositions for incurring bonded indebtedness for the acquisition, construction or completion of any public utility or utilities shall be filed with the director of elections, the Board of Supervisors shall submit to the voters the proposition or propositions for incurring bonded indebtedness of the City and County for purpose or purposes set forth in that petition at the next general municipal, statewide or special municipal election.
Except as otherwise expressly provided in this Charter, the City and County and its commissions shall have the authority to incur and refund indebtedness as provided by and pursuant to the general laws of the state as such laws are in force at the time any indebtedness is created or refunded by the City and County or its commissions. The Controller certifications required by Sections 3.105 and 9.113 shall not apply to any indebtedness, financing leases or agreements for an exchange of payments based upon interest rates which are entered into in connection with indebtedness or financing leases, provided that the Controller first certifies that sufficient unencumbered balances are expected to be available in the proper fund to meet all payments under such obligations as they become due.
(Amended June 2, 1998)
(Added June 2, 1998; repealed November 2002)
The Port Commission shall have the exclusive power to perform or accomplish issuance of revenue bonds for Port-related purposes, as provided in Section B7.305 of this Charter.
(a) Unused and unencumbered appropriations or unencumbered balances existing at the close of any fiscal year in revenue or expense appropriations of the City and County for any such fiscal year, but exclusive of revenue or money required by law to be held in school, bond, bond interest, bond redemption, pension, trust, utility or other specific funds, or to be devoted exclusively to specified purposes other than biennial appropriations, and together with revenues collected or accruing from any source during such fiscal year, in excess of the estimated revenue from such source as shown by the biennial budget and the appropriation ordinance for such fiscal year, shall be transferred by the Controller, at the closing of such fiscal year, to the General Fund.
(b) In the event that funds are not available to meet authorized expenditures, the Treasurer, upon the recommendation of the Controller, is authorized to transfer monies among funds held by the Treasurer in the pooled funds of the City and County which are legally available for such a purpose, except a pension fund. The Treasurer and the Controller shall set the terms and conditions of the transfer, taking into account the requirements and nature of the fund from which the transfer was made. All monies transferred pursuant to this Section shall accrue interest at not less than the then current rate of interest earned by the Treasurer on the pooled funds of the City and County. In no event shall the Controller or the Treasurer cause any transfer of monies pursuant to this Section if said transfer would be inconsistent with the terms and conditions of any outstanding bonded indebtedness of the City and County, including any of its boards or commissions.
(c) In the event the Mayor or a member of the Board of Supervisors recommends a supplemental appropriation ordinance after the adoption of the budget for any budgetary cycle and prior to the close of the budgetary cycle containing any item which had been rejected by the Mayor in his/her review of departmental budget estimates for the budgetary cycle or which had been rejected by the Board of Supervisors in its consideration of the Mayor's proposed budget for the budgetary cycle, it shall require a vote of two-thirds of all members of the Board of Supervisors to approve such supplemental appropriation ordinance.
(d) No ordinance or resolution for the expenditure of money, except the biennial appropriation ordinance, shall be passed by the Board of Supervisors unless the Controller first certifies to the Board that there is a sufficient unencumbered balance in a fund that may legally be used for such proposed expenditure, and that, in the judgment of the Controller, revenues as anticipated in the appropriation ordinance for such budgetary cycle and properly applicable to meet such proposed expenditures will be available in the treasury in sufficient amount to meet the same as it becomes due.
(e) The Board of Supervisors shall have the power to borrow money by the issuance of tax anticipation notes, temporary notes, commercial paper, or any other short-term debt instruments in the manner provided by state law or City ordinance.
(f) Biennial appropriations shall expire at the end of the budgetary cycle, and the City shall have no authority to expend funds from such appropriations unless and until the Board of Supervisors adopts a new budget, interim budget, or supplemental appropriation for such expenditures.
(g) No City monies shall be drawn from the treasury of the City and County, nor shall any obligation for the expenditure of any money be incurred, except in pursuance of appropriations or transfers made as provided in the Charter and the Administrative Code.
(Amended November 2003; Amended by Proposition A, Approved 11/5/2009)
(a) Beginning January 1, 2015, there shall be a City Rainy Day Reserve ("the City Reserve") and a School Rainy Day Reserve ("the School Reserve"), collectively referred to as the Rainy Day Reserves.
Allocations to the Reserves
(b) If the Controller projects that total General Fund revenues for the upcoming budget year will exceed total General Fund revenues for the current year by more than five percent, the budget shall allocate the anticipated General Fund revenues in excess of that five percent growth (the excess revenues) as follows:
1. 50 percent of the excess revenues to the Rainy Day Reserves, with 75 percent of that amount deposited to the City Reserve and 25 percent to the School Reserve;
2. 25 percent of the excess revenues to capital and other one-time expenditures; and,
3. 25 percent of the excess revenues to any lawful governmental purpose.
(c) Total monies in the City Reserve may not exceed 10 percent of actual total general fund revenues, as stated in the City's most recent independent annual audit. The budget shall allocate excess revenues that would otherwise be allocated to the City Reserve above the 10 percent cap instead to capital and other one-time expenditures.
(d) The Mayor and the Board of Supervisors may, at any time, appropriate monies from the capital and other one-time expenditures allocation for capital projects or for expenditures such as, but not limited to, acquisition of equipment or information systems.
(e) The Mayor and the Board of Supervisors may, at any time, appropriate monies from the general purpose allocation for any lawful governmental purpose.
Withdrawals from the City Reserve
(f) If the Controller projects that total General Fund revenues for the upcoming budget year will be less than the current year's total General Fund revenues, or the highest of any other previous year's total General Fund revenues, the budget may appropriate up to 50 percent of the current balance in the City Reserve, but no more than the shortfall in total General Fund revenues, for any lawful governmental purpose in the upcoming budget year.
1. If the trigger for withdrawals from the City Reserve was not met in the current year, the Controller shall calculate the shortfall for the upcoming budget year by subtracting the total projected General Fund revenues for the upcoming budget year from the total projected General Fund revenues for the current year.
2. If the trigger for withdrawals from the City Reserve was met in the current year, the shortfall shall be calculated by subtracting the total projected General Fund revenues for the upcoming budget year from the highest of any previous year's total General Fund revenues, plus two percent for each intervening year.
(g) If the City made appropriations from the City Reserve in the current year and in the immediately preceding budget year pursuant to subsection (f), the City is not required to allocate any anticipated excess revenues to the Rainy Day Reserves or to capital and other one-time expenditures for the upcoming budget year.
(h) If the Controller projects that the Consumer Price Index for the upcoming budget year shall exceed the index for the current year by more than five percent, the trigger for allocations to the Reserve as set forth in Subparagraph (b) above shall instead be the percentage of growth in the index plus two percent. If the Controller projects that the Consumer Price Index for the upcoming budget year shall be less than the index for the current year, the trigger for withdrawals from the Reserve as set forth in Subparagraph (f) above shall instead be the percentage of negative growth in the index. The Controller shall use for these purposes the San Francisco All Items Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), or its successor, as reported by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.
(i) If the Board of Supervisors or the voters take an action that changes the amount of total General Fund revenues in any material manner, such as reducing a tax or imposing a new fee, the revenue changes caused by that action will not be counted as part of the triggers for allocations to the Rainy Day Reserves or withdrawals from the City Reserve during the year or years in which the action is first implemented.
(j) In conjunction with the year-end close of the budget, the Controller shall reconcile the revenue projections triggering any budgeted allocations to or withdrawals from the Rainy Day Reserves with actual revenue results, as stated in the City's independent annual audit for the years in question, and rebalance the Rainy Day Reserves, the capital and other one-time expenditures allocation, and the general purpose allocation accordingly.
Withdrawals from the School Reserve
(k) If the San Francisco Unified School District ("SFUSD") projects that inflation-adjusted per-pupil discretionary revenues for the upcoming fiscal year will be reduced and that a significant number of layoffs would be required to balance its budget, the SFUSD Board of Education may approve, by majority vote, a draw from the School Reserve of up to 50 percent of the current balance in the School Reserve but no more than the shortfall in inflation-adjusted per-pupil discretionary revenues, as determined by the SFUSD Board of Education. Such action shall be transmitted to the Controller, who upon certification of the SFUSD calculation shall transfer such funds to the SFUSD. For purposes of this Section, allocations provided from the City to the SFUSD through the Public Education Enrichment Fund shall not be deemed discretionary.
(l) If the triggers for withdrawal from the School Reserve were met in the current fiscal year, the decline in per-pupil discretionary spending shall be calculated by subtracting the inflation-adjusted per-pupil discretionary revenues for the upcoming budget year from the highest of any previous year's inflation-adjusted per-pupil discretionary revenues.
(m) In conjunction with the year-end close of the SFUSD budget, the SFUSD shall reconcile the revenue projections triggering a budgeted withdrawal from the School Reserve with actual revenue results, as stated in the SFUSD's independent audit for the years in question. The SFUSD shall rebalance the withdrawal allocation and, if necessary, return funds required to rebalance the Reserve.
(n) Given possible changes in State school funding formulae, changes in local demographic or economic conditions, or other factors, the SFUSD may for a given fiscal year draw from the School Reserve amounts in excess of the limitations in subsection (k) or to offset revenue losses that are less than those that would otherwise permit a draw under subsections (k) and (l). Such action shall become operative for that fiscal year following approval of two-thirds of the SFUSD Board of Education and certification by the Controller of the Board of Education's action.
Transition to New Reserve Structure
(o) No later than January 1, 2015, the Controller shall transfer 50 percent of the Rainy Day Reserve existing as of that date to the City Reserve and 50 percent to the School Reserve.
Two-Year Budget
(p) The Controller shall promulgate procedures modifying the Rainy Day Reserve system, as necessary, to be consistent with the City's adoption of biennial rather than annual budgets.
(Added November 2003; amended November 2009; November 2014)
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