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Union Square BID reports strong finances, seeks renewal with 65% budget increase
Summary
The Union Square Business Improvement District reported meeting OEWD benchmarks for fiscal year 2017–18, raised significant non‑assessment revenue, and is pursuing renewal after collecting 50% petition support; its program highlights include expanded cleaning/safety services, homeless outreach partnerships and public events.
Union Square Business Improvement District reported to the Government Audit and Oversight Committee on June 6 that it met all oversight benchmarks for fiscal year 2017–18 and is advancing a renewal petition that would raise its budget by 65%. OEWD project specialist Helen Marr told supervisors the district encompasses roughly 598 parcels and met assessment, budget‑variance and carryover disclosure requirements during the review period.
Karen Flood, executive director of the Union Square BID, told the committee the district dedicated about 65% of its FY17–18 budget to cleaning and safety work by property owners' direction and collected $3,550,000 in assessments that year. Flood highlighted program achievements including Winter Walk event production, alley activations, and a partnership with the downtown streets team that employed 23 people in the fiscal year and housed 21 to date. Flood also cited operational metrics: district staff reported removing about 19,458 graffiti tags and collecting approximately 603,325 pounds of trash in a year; BID crews also reported picking up about 5,700 needles in the district.
Flood said renewal outreach had reached the petition phase with 50% support among property owners—she noted that typically the district needs 30% to proceed—and that the renewal would require a ballot in July seeking approval for the proposed budget increase. OEWD's review concluded the BID raised far more than the 1% non‑assessment general‑benefit threshold (29.4%) and otherwise met OEWD's benchmarks.
Supervisor comments were favorable and a committee member moved to forward the resolution to the full Board with a positive recommendation. Public comment included statements urging larger scale housing investments to address homelessness, which speakers said remain an urgent need in the city and the BID's service area.
The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider the BID renewal during the next ordinance/renewal process; the BID indicated it will present before the Board on July 9.
