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San Francisco County, CA March 5, 2002 Election
Proposition F
Citizen Oversight of Bond Expenditures
City of San Francisco
Ordinance - Majority Vote Required

15,682 / 75.22% Yes votes ...... 5,167 / 24.78% No votes

See Also: Index of all Propositions
Information shown below: Summary | Fiscal Impact | Yes/No Meaning | Arguments |

Shall the City create a committee to oversee how it spends bond money?

Summary:
THE WAY IT IS NOW: The City borrows money to pay for buildings and other improvements to real property by sell-ing general obligation bonds. Voters must approve the pur-pose and amount of the money to be borrowed. Bond money may be spent only for the purposes approved by the voters.

THE PROPOSAL: Proposition F is an ordinance that would create a committee to review and report on how bond money is spent. The committee would have at least nine members, appointed by the Mayor, Board of Supervisors, Controller, and Civil Grand Jury. If the committee found that bond money had been spent for purposes not approved by the voters, the committee could prohibit the sale of any remaining bonds. The Board of Supervisors could reverse the decision of the committee by a two-thirds vote.

How "F" Got on the Ballot On December 5, 2001 the Department of Elections received a proposed ordinance signed by Supervisors Hall, Leno, Maxwell, McGoldrick, and Yee.

The City Elections Code allows four or more Supervisors to place an ordinance on the ballot in this manner.

Fiscal Impact:
Controller's Statement on "F" City Controller Edward Harrington has issued the following statement on the fiscal impact of Proposition F: Should the proposed ordinance be adopted by the voters, in my opinion, there will be a minimal increase to the cost of government.

Meaning of Voting Yes/No
A YES vote of this measure means:
If you vote yes, you want to cre-ate a committee to oversee how bond money is spent.

A NO vote of this measure means:
If you vote no, you do not want to create a committee to oversee how bond money is spent.

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Arguments For Proposition F Arguments Against Proposition F
VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION F Proposition F creates an independent citizen's oversight committee to ensure that proceeds from bond measures are spent as San Francisco voters authorized. Over the last ten years, San Francisco voters have been extraordinarily generous, authorizing more than $1.2 billion in general obligation bonds to rebuild, repair and expand our hospitals, fire stations, libraries, parks and museums. But, as recent reports in the San Francisco Chronicle suggest, a substantial amount of the bond money received by the San Francisco Unified School District may have been used for projects voters never authorized. In other cases, needed improvements were never completed. In all, $100 million of $377 million in bonds issued for the school district may have been spent improperly. As a result of this mismanagement, San Francisco youth suffered. In a recent case, disabled students were forced to pull themselves across bathroom floors because restroom handrails and other disability access improvement were never installed. Proposition F creates a nine-member citizen review panel, including an expert in construction management, an expert in bond finance, a member of the Civil Grand Jury and representatives from business, labor, community groups, to oversee bond spending. The independent group will have the resources and authority to commission audits of bond projects. If the committee finds wrongdoing or mismanagement, it has the power to halt the sale of additional bonds by a city agency until corrective action is taken. Restore trust and confidence in San Francisco bonds. Vote YES on Prop F.

Supervisor Mark Leno Supervisor Sophie Maxwell Supervisor Gavin Newsom Supervisor Leland Yee

Rebuttal to Arguments For
No rebuttal argument submitted. 		No argument submitted.

Rebuttal to Arguments Against
No rebuttal argument submitted.

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Created: April 19, 2002 10:59 PDT
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