SFMTA outlines slow spending on recent bond issuance and proposes targeted reallocation

Joel Goldberg, manager of programming and grants at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, gave the committee a status update on the 2014 Transportation and Road Improvement general obligation bond, which was described in the presentation as a $501.7 million measure approved by voters.

Goldberg said the bond was issued in multiple issuances (labeled in staff materials as 2015b, 2018b, 2020b and 2021c) and that earlier issuances are substantially spent: the 2015 issuance has about $2.4 million remaining; the 2018 issuance has roughly $11.2 million left (about 7.4% unexpended). By contrast, the 2021c issuance is behind schedule with only about 3.2% expended, a lag Goldberg attributed to project delivery disruption during the COVID period and the timing of that issuance. He flagged several large outstanding project balances—Van Ness Corridor, Fillmore Extension, Taylor Street and Better Market Street—and noted that some individual projects hold multi-million-dollar balances.

Goldberg described a strategy his office is using to reduce administrative burden and speed delivery: where permissible, SFMTA will reallocate funds between projects within a program bucket without supplemental appropriation and can reprogram within program lines across issuances where the program spans multiple issuances (for example, Muni Forward spans several issuances). He said the agency will meet with project teams, accounting and the budget office to move funds to higher-priority, quicker-spending projects and to monitor encumbrances and expenditures closely.

Committee members asked about project-specific outcomes (for example, safety and traffic impacts on Van Ness and timelines for Better Market Street). Goldberg said staff will provide follow-up details and data to answer those requests.

Next steps: SFMTA will continue coordinating reallocation options, provide follow-up on Better Market Street timing and safety/efficiency metrics for Van Ness, and pursue internal reprogramming where allowed; any reallocation that crosses program boundaries may require Board of Supervisors approval.