San Francisco Government Audit and Oversight Committee Regular Meeting - June 20, 2024
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San Francisco Government Audit and Oversight Committee Regular Meeting - June 20, 2024
The Government Audit and Oversight Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors held a regular meeting on June 20, 2024, at 6:15 PM UTC. The meeting was chaired by Supervisor Dean Preston, joined by Vice Chair Catherine Stephanie. Committee Clerk Monique Creighton handled administrative duties. Supervisor Chan was excused from the meeting by a motion that passed 2-0. The committee considered one regular agenda item (an ordinance increasing the transient occupancy tax exemption) and a series of settlement items (items 2-11) that were handled without a closed session after the city attorney's office answered all questions. Public comment was opened for each item but no members of the public spoke.
Discussion Items
- Item 1 – Transient Occupancy Tax Exemption Increase: An ordinance to amend the Business and Tax Regulations Code to raise the daily transient occupancy tax exemption amount from less than $52 to less than $60, and the weekly exemption from less than $130 to less than $149. The ordinance also requires the controller to review the exemption amounts between September 27, 2027, and September 2029 for potential adjustments. Sunny Anguillo, Chief of Staff for President Aaron Peskin, presented the item, noting it was likely the second adjustment to the hotel tax exemption and that the controller determines the methodology. No questions were raised by the committee.
- Items 2-11 – Settlements of Lawsuits and Unlitigated Claims: The committee considered five ordinances and five resolutions authorizing settlements ranging from approximately $37,000 to $2.2 million. Item 2 (Settlement of Unlitigated Claims – U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – City to Receive $441,521.39) was scheduled for a committee report at the June 25, 2024 Board of Supervisors meeting. All settlement amounts and parties were listed in the agenda. Chair Preston noted his questions had been answered directly by the city attorney's office, so the committee proceeded without a closed session.
Key Outcomes
- Item 1: Motion to forward the ordinance to the full Board of Supervisors with a positive recommendation passed 2-0 (Vice Chair Stephanie aye, Chair Preston aye; Member Chan excused).
- Items 2-11: Motion to forward Item 2 as a committee report to the Board of Supervisors for its June 25, 2024 meeting, and items 3-11 with a positive recommendation to the full board, passed 2-0 (Vice Chair Stephanie aye, Chair Preston aye; Member Chan excused).
- The meeting adjourned immediately after the votes.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. This meeting will come to order. Welcome to the June 20th, 2024 regular meeting of the government audit and oversight committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. I'm Supervisor Dean Preston, Chair of the Committee, joined by Vice Chair Catherine Stephanie. Our committee clerk is Monique Creighton, and our thanks to SFGov TV for staffing this meeting. Madam Clerk, do you have any announcements? Yes, 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 your right. Alternatively, you may submit public comment in writing in either of the following ways. Email them to the government audit and oversight committee clerk at M O N I Q U E. C R A Y T O N at S F G O V dot O R G. If you if you can submit public comment via email 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 in City Hall. Number one, Dr. Carlton B. Goodlitt place, room 244, San Francisco, California 94102. If you have documents you would like to be included as part of the as part of the file, please submit them to me before the end of the meeting. Please make sure to slot ins all cell phones and electronic devices to prevent any interruptions to today's proceedings. Finally, items acted upon today are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors' agenda of July 2nd, 2024 unless otherwise stated. Thank you, Madam Clerk. And before we call uh item one, uh I'd like to make a motion to excuse Supervisor Chan uh from today's um meeting. Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Yes, on the motion to excuse Member Chan. Vice Chair Stephanie. Aye. Vice Chair Stephanie aye. Chair Preston. Aye. Chair Preston, aye. I have two ayes. Thank you. That motion passes, and let's call item one. Item one is an ordinance amending the the business and tax regulations code to increase the daily transient occupancy tax exemption amount from less than $52 to less than $60 to increase the weekly transient occupancy tax exemption amount from less than one 130 dollars to less than 149 dollars and to require review in the September 27, 2027 through September 2029 time frame by the controller of the exemption amounts for the purpose of considering adjustments in the amounts. Thank you. And we have uh Sunny Anguillo uh Chief of Staff for President Aaron Peskin sponsor this item here today. The floor is yours. Welcome. Hi guys, this is be quick. I think this is maybe the second time that we have uh adjusted the exemption for our what is also known as the hotel tax. I think at this point it's like 14% or something. It's what we levy for um hotels, motels, Airbnbs, VRBOs. Um, and I think the reason we started doing it in like 2021 or something was because we had amended in the Airbnb agreement, the settlement agreement. And so um this essentially after the controller, I and I do not I admit I do not know the methodology or how the controller comes to this analysis, but um just uh augmenting or reducing um uh the amount uh the threshold that you basically have to meet in terms of the revenue that you collect if you're paying a certain amount of rent. So in this case, we're lowering it from sixty dollars a day to fifty-two, and then um if you're collecting, I think like a hundred and thirty dollars a week in rent, um, then you would be exempt from this tax. And that's it. And then we'll do it again in a couple of years. Right. This takes us through 2020, I think. Or 2029.
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