San Francisco Budget and Finance Committee Meeting - February 28, 2024
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San Francisco Budget and Finance Committee Meeting - February 28, 2024
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee met on February 28, 2024, to consider 12 agenda items including tax changes, contracts, leases, and a major refuse collection agreement. The committee approved 11 items unanimously, with one item continued to the next meeting for further review of labor and environmental concerns.
Consent Calendar
- Item 1: Ordinance amending Transient Occupancy Tax returns to simplify filing for short-term rental hosts and require qualified website companies to collect Tourism Improvement District assessments. Approved with an amendment to strike retroactivity.
- Item 2: Resolution authorizing acceptance of an in-kind gift of consulting services valued at $302,208 for the Civic Bridge program. Approved with an amendment adding "plus the coordination of related volunteer services."
- Items 3 & 4: Resolutions authorizing SFDPH to continue participation in CalMHSA programs under a Joint Powers Authority (Item 3) and retroactively accept a grant agreement with Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. for $33,736,105 for an adolescent psychiatric unit at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (Item 4). Both approved.
- Items 5 & 6: Resolutions for the Public Utilities Commission: increasing the power sales revenue limit from $10 million to $20 million annually (Item 5), and approving a $40,958,727 Memorandum of Agreement with Yosemite National Park for watershed management (Item 6). Both approved.
- Items 7, 8, 9: Resolutions approving three lease agreements at Harvey Milk Terminal 1: two with Tastes on the Fly San Francisco, LLC (food hall with $1.25M minimum annual guarantee, historic restaurant with $550,000 minimum annual guarantee) and one with Amoura International, Inc. (casual sit-down restaurant with $450,000 minimum annual guarantee). All approved.
- Item 10: Resolution retroactively authorizing an agreement with Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. for EBT wireless payment processing services at the Alemany Farmers Market. Approved.
Discussion Items
- Item 11: Resolution approving a $4,350,000 continuation payment under the Potrero Bus Yard predevelopment agreement with Potrero Neighborhood Collective LLC. SFMTA presented the project, which includes a new bus yard and up to 465 housing units (affordable and workforce). Discussion focused on the importance of providing a term sheet to the board before final development agreements. The committee approved the item after adding an amendment clarifying that the board's approval covers the predevelopment agreement and continuation payment.
- Item 12: Resolution approving a contract with Allied Waste Services of North America, LLC for citywide refuse collection and disposal services, with a not-to-exceed amount of $119,000,000 over 10 years. The Office of Contract Administration presented the contract, noting it was competitively procured for the first time and replaces the Recology contract. Multiple speakers raised concerns about labor harmony, potential strikes, and environmental impacts of routing. The committee voted to continue the item to the March 6, 2024 meeting for further review.
Public Comments & Testimony
- On Item 12: Evan Boyd, Regional Vice President of Recology San Francisco, expressed concerns about environmental impacts of collection vehicle routes and pricing. John Bouchard (Teamsters Local 350) and Mark Leeson (Teamsters Joint Council 7) raised labor concerns, including lower wages and benefits for workers outside San Francisco, history of strikes, and potential service disruptions due to picket lines. They urged the committee to evaluate the awardee's labor record.
Key Outcomes
- Approved and forwarded to the full Board of Supervisors: Items 1 through 11, all by unanimous votes.
- Continued: Item 12 to the next Budget and Finance Committee meeting on March 6, 2024, by a unanimous vote.
- Amendments adopted: Items 1 and 2 were amended as described; Item 11 was amended to include additional recitals regarding charter section 9.118.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. The meeting will come to order. Welcome to the February 28, 2024 meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee. I am Supervisor Connie Chan, Chair of the Committee. I'm joined by Vice Chair Rafael Mendelman and Supervisor Mirna Malgar. Our clerk is Brent Halipa. And uh I want to like to thank uh Corwin Cooley from SFGov TV for broadcasting this for broadcasting this meeting. Mr. Clark, do you have any announcements? Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a friendly reminder to those in attendance to please make sure to sounce all cell phones and electronic devices. That's another our proceedings. How should you have any documents to be included as part of the file that should be submitted to myself, the clerk? Public comment will be taken on each item on this agenda. When your item of interest comes up and public comment is called, please line up to speak on the west side of the chamber to your right, my left along those curtains. And while not necessary to provide public comment, we do invite you to fill out a comment card and leave them on to trade right by the television to your left by the doors. If you wish to be accurately recorded for the minutes, alternatively, you may submit public comment in writing in either of the following ways. Email them to myself, the budget and finance committee clerk at B R E N T dot J A L I P A Hat S F G O V dot O R G. If you submit public comment via email, it will be forwarded to the supervisors and also included as part of the official file. You may also send your written comments via U.S. Postal Service to our office and city hall. That's one, Dr. Carlton Be Good Place. Room 244, San Francisco, California, 94102. And finally, Madam Chair, items acted upon today are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors' agenda of March 5th, unless otherwise stated. Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. And before we call item number one, I would like to remind everyone that we have budget and legislative analyst reports for items six through nine, eleven and twelve on today's agenda. So for those items, we will have the department presentation first, followed by the budget and legislative analyst. Then we will take questions and public comment. Mr. Clark, please call item number one. Yes, item number one has an ordinance amending the business and tax regulations code for tax periods beginning on or after January 1st, 2024 to require short-term rental hosts that do not operate through a qualified website company to file transient occupancy tax returns annually. Change the period for filing transient occupancy tax returns from annually to monthly for all hotel small operators other than short-term rental hosts, codify the tax collector's qualified website company program and the return and payment requirements for tourism improvement district and moscone expansion district assessments and require qualified websites companies to collect and remit tourism improvement district assessments. Madam Chair. Thank you. And we have the Treasure Corrector's Office here. Good morning, Chair Chan, Supervisors, Amanda Freed with the Office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector. Today I'm presenting an item that will simplify tax and fee filing requirements for short-term residential rental hosts. Following an election in 2022, as of January 1st of this year, short-term rental hosts are now assessed under the San Francisco Tourism Improvement District, or TID. Hosts may pass this assessment on to their guests. As we work to implement this new collection from hosts, our goal was to simplify the filing and payment of the TID for hosts. All of that information is posted on our website. As you know, short-term rentals have always been required to collect and remit transient occupancy taxes or TOT. We've long offered many different options for hosts to collect and remit these obligations. Currently, hosts can collect and remit TOT monthly or annually, or they can work with a qualified website company to collect and remit the taxes on their behalf. In practice, the vast majority of TOT is collected and remitted by qualified website companies. Hosts who operate short-term rentals directly or on non-qualified platforms do collect and remit TOT annually right now. We don't currently have any TOT remitted monthly by short-term rental hosts.
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