SEC. 9.113. GENERAL FISCAL PROVISIONS.
§ 9.113
This section establishes rules for how San Francisco manages its money: unused appropriations and excess revenues go to the General Fund; the Treasurer can transfer money between funds when needed (with Controller approval and interest accrual); supplemental appropriations that revive rejected budget items need a two-thirds Board vote; the Controller must certify sufficient funds before any spending ordinance passes; and all spending must come from appropriations or authorized transfers.
The city has rules about how leftover money and extra revenue are handled—unused funds go to a general account at the end of each year. If the city runs short of money in one account, the Treasurer can move money from other accounts (with the Controller's approval) and the borrowed money must earn interest. If a city leader wants to spend money on something the Mayor or Board previously rejected, it takes a two-thirds vote to approve it. Before the Board can pass any law to spend money, the Controller has to confirm there's enough money available. The city can also borrow short-term money if needed. Once the yearly budget expires, the city can't spend that money unless the Board approves a new budget or supplemental spending plan.
- Complex:Section (a) is a single 100+ word sentence with multiple embedded clauses and exceptions that make it difficult to parse; section (b) involves cross-references to bond terms and legal availability concepts that require specialized knowledge.
- Controversial:Section (c) imposes a two-thirds supermajority requirement to reconsider rejected budget items, which touches on political process and budget control—a subject on which reasonable people may disagree about the proper distribution of power.
AI-generated · claude-haiku-4-5 · informational only, not legal advice.
Official text
(a) Unused and unencumbered appropriations or unencumbered balances existing at the close of any fiscal year in revenue or expense appropriations of the City and County for any such fiscal year, but exclusive of revenue or money required by law to be held in school, bond, bond interest, bond redemption, pension, trust, utility or other specific funds, or to be devoted exclusively to specified purposes other than biennial appropriations, and together with revenues collected or accruing from any source during such fiscal year, in excess of the estimated revenue from such source as shown by the biennial budget and the appropriation ordinance for such fiscal year, shall be transferred by the Controller, at the closing of such fiscal year, to the General Fund.
(b) In the event that funds are not available to meet authorized expenditures, the Treasurer, upon the recommendation of the Controller, is authorized to transfer monies among funds held by the Treasurer in the pooled funds of the City and County which are legally available for such a purpose, except a pension fund. The Treasurer and the Controller shall set the terms and conditions of the transfer, taking into account the requirements and nature of the fund from which the transfer was made. All monies transferred pursuant to this Section shall accrue interest at not less than the then current rate of interest earned by the Treasurer on the pooled funds of the City and County. In no event shall the Controller or the Treasurer cause any transfer of monies pursuant to this Section if said transfer would be inconsistent with the terms and conditions of any outstanding bonded indebtedness of the City and County, including any of its boards or commissions.
(c) In the event the Mayor or a member of the Board of Supervisors recommends a supplemental appropriation ordinance after the adoption of the budget for any budgetary cycle and prior to the close of the budgetary cycle containing any item which had been rejected by the Mayor in his/her review of departmental budget estimates for the budgetary cycle or which had been rejected by the Board of Supervisors in its consideration of the Mayor's proposed budget for the budgetary cycle, it shall require a vote of two-thirds of all members of the Board of Supervisors to approve such supplemental appropriation ordinance.
(d) No ordinance or resolution for the expenditure of money, except the biennial appropriation ordinance, shall be passed by the Board of Supervisors unless the Controller first certifies to the Board that there is a sufficient unencumbered balance in a fund that may legally be used for such proposed expenditure, and that, in the judgment of the Controller, revenues as anticipated in the appropriation ordinance for such budgetary cycle and properly applicable to meet such proposed expenditures will be available in the treasury in sufficient amount to meet the same as it becomes due.
(e) The Board of Supervisors shall have the power to borrow money by the issuance of tax anticipation notes, temporary notes, commercial paper, or any other short-term debt instruments in the manner provided by state law or City ordinance.
(f) Biennial appropriations shall expire at the end of the budgetary cycle, and the City shall have no authority to expend funds from such appropriations unless and until the Board of Supervisors adopts a new budget, interim budget, or supplemental appropriation for such expenditures.
(g) No City monies shall be drawn from the treasury of the City and County, nor shall any obligation for the expenditure of any money be incurred, except in pursuance of appropriations or transfers made as provided in the Charter and the Administrative Code.
(Amended November 2003; Amended by Proposition A, Approved 11/5/2009)