In recent years, the City has asked voters to approve revenue-generating measures for arts education, affordable housing, street repair and traffic safety, mitigation of possible safety impacts of cannabis legalization and support for businesses and communities negatively impacted by its prohibition. Each measure assured voters that, if approved, the City would implement accountability measures regarding what the new revenue would be used for, how it would be overseen, how often reports to the public would be made, the performance of audits, and any administrative caps that would be used.
During our audits of programs created by each of those City-referred ballot measures, we noticed a trend that the City’s implementation of some of the accountability protections fell short of what had been promised.
This report examines the implementation of the City’s accountability promises, makes recommendations for improvement, and shares examples of better approaches to use for future ballot measures.