Office of Public Finance

 

Welcome to the website of the Office of Public Finance. I am a firm believer that public investment creates jobs, improves services, and encourages investment by private firms who see the advantage of investing and locating in a city with excellent infrastructure. Thank you for your interest and participation in our debt program and in our future. - Edwin M. Lee

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Mission
The Office of Public Finance is responsible for issuing and managing the City's general fund debt obligations. Its mission is to provide and manage low-cost debt financing of large-scale, long-term capital projects and improvements that produce social and economic benefit to the City and its citizens while balancing market and credit risk with appropriate benefits, mitigations and controls.

Strategic Issues
The Controller has established a Twitter account for the Controller’s Office to provide notice of certain financial information to the public and investor community (e.g., competitive sales results, rating changes, material event notices, etc.). You may receive such notices by becoming a follower of the Controller’s tweets at the following user name: #sfcontroller. This information is provided solely for convenience. The City does not undertake to continuously update material provided through its Twitter account, or to use Twitter as the principal means of communication, which continues to be the City’s investor information webpage, and the City reserves the right to discontinue this service at any in time in its sole discretion.

  • Maintain cost-effective access to the capital markets with prudent policies.
  • Maintain moderate debt and debt service levels with effective planning and coordination with City departments.
  • Meet significant capital demands through debt financing and alternate financing mechanisms such as public/private partnerships.
  • Achieve the highest practical credit rating.

Summary of Types of Debt
The Office of Public Finance utilizes three principal types of municipal debt obligations to finance long-term capital projects and the acquisition of select equipment:

  • general obligation bonds,
  • lease revenue bonds, and
  • certificates of participation.

The City relies on the issuance of general obligation bonds to leverage property tax receipts for voter-approved capital expenditures for the construction and/or acquisition of improvements to real property broadly available to the residents and visitors of San Francisco. Such facilities include, but are not limited to, libraries, hospitals, parks, and cultural and educational facilities.

The City utilizes lease revenue bonds and certificates of participation to leverage general fund receipts such as fees and charges to finance capital projects and acquisitions, many of which provide a direct revenue benefit or cost savings to the City.

All references herein are for the Office of Public Finance and do not include the Mayor's Office of Housing, San Francisco Airport Commission, San Francisco Community College District, San Francisco Housing Authority, San Francisco Port Commission, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Successor Agency to the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, or the San Francisco Unified School District. For information on these departments, please go to Contact Issuers.