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Supervisors forward $348M wastewater capital package and revenue-bond authorization to full board
Summary
The Budget & Finance Committee voted to forward to the full Board a $348.1 million two-year supplemental capital appropriation and requests for wastewater revenue-bond authorizations (up to $297.8 million), while placing certain sewer-collection construction funds on controller reserve pending confirmation of a $30 million state grant.
The San Francisco Budget and Finance Committee on a voice vote moved to send to the full Board a multiyear wastewater capital package that combines a $348.1 million supplemental capital appropriation with requests for revenue-bond authorizations.
Todd Reedstrom, assistant general manager and chief financial officer of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, told the committee the appropriation would cover two years of planned projects across sewer collection, treatment facilities and sewer-system improvement planning. Reedstrom said the city is accelerating pipe replacement from roughly 4 miles in the current year to 12–15 miles annually over the next two years and estimated the per-mile cost at about $3.5 million to $4.0 million.
The budget analyst reported the total debt service on the proposed financings would be about $609.1 million, including roughly $297.7 million in principal and about $311 million in interest. The analyst flagged that about $30 million of the sewer-collection program was assumed to come from a new state grant for which the city has not yet applied and recommended placing approximately $56,249,400 of construction funds on committee reserve until the department reports back.
Reedstrom and PUC staff said the legislation already contains controller-reserve language for bonds, grants and fee revenues, and that individual bond sales would still return to the Board for approval. PUC staff said they expect state grant regulations and an application process to be available in the summer and described a rolling 10-year financial plan that aligns rate projections with the capital plan.
Public commentators and supervisors pressed the PUC on system-wide flow management, digester siting and community outreach. Tommy Wallach, assistant general manager for PUC wastewater, described a digester task force that narrowed site options from 17 to two and noted upcoming public workshops on April 27.
The committee approved forwarding Items 2, 3 and 13 to the full Board with a recommendation and the budget analyst’s reserve recommendation.
Next steps: the full Board will consider the appropriations and any bond authorizations; individual bond sales would return to the Board when the PUC is ready to issue them.
