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Controller's office restarting geobond audits; public finance outlines four pending bond issuances targeting Jan. 2025 pricing
Summary
The Controller's Office said it will resume geobond expenditure audits (including 2019 affordable housing and a 2020 health and recovery bond); Office of Public Finance outlined up to four pending bond issuances and said staff aim to price them together in January 2025 to save on issuance costs.
Mark Dela Rosa, director of audit in the Controller's Office, told the committee there have been no new public integrity reviews since August 2024 but that the office is continuing audits and plans to restart geobond expenditure audits this fiscal year. Dela Rosa said the office has completed about a dozen geobond expenditure audits since 2014 and has initiated work on audits of the 2019 affordable housing bond and a 2020 health and recovery bond later this fiscal year.
Natasha Michal, city performance director, said her office will publish five or six annual performance reports from mid-November to early December and will issue new nonprofit performance-monitoring guidance in mid-December. Michal also described a newly formed muni funding working group, convened with SFMTA, to solicit public feedback on budget choices as SFMTA faces looming deficits.
Vishal Teredi from the Office of Public Finance reviewed proposed legislation and the forward debt calendar. He said the office has introduced legislation to the Board of Supervisors to authorize issuances for several bond series, including: the 2018 Embarcadero Seawall bond (third issuance, not to exceed $124,000,000), the 2020 ESER (earthquake safety and emergency response) bond (third issuance, not to exceed $225,000,000), the 2019 affordable housing bond (third issuance, not to exceed $70,000,000), and the 2024 affordable housing bond (first issuance, not to exceed $152,000,000). Teredi said staff expect to present at the Budget and Finance Committee in November and currently target pricing and issuance in January 2025, and that staff hope to price multiple series together to achieve issuance-cost savings.
Committee members asked questions about the forward calendar for audits and whether the Controller's Office is coordinating reviews that look at geobond expenditures performed by external contractors; Dela Rosa said the office has a program of audits and will continue those efforts.
Next steps: Controller's Office will proceed with planned audits and the Office of Public Finance will advance legislation and return with details during the Budget and Finance Committee review in November; targeted pricing for the bond series is January 2025.
