Last month, members of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors were annoyed that city agencies didn't know how much of your tax money they would have to spend to keep things afloat during Super Bowl 50. But now they have another reason to be annoyed, as a memo sent yesterday by the city's budget director laid out the multimillion expenditure list, even as some Supes maintain that no taxpayer bucks should go towards the event at all.
In a memo sent by Mayor Ed Lee’s budget director Kate Howard and obtained by the Examiner (you can read the whole thing here), here's what she projects we'll be spending:
“These expenditures are all within departmental budgets," Howard says, "and will not require any supplemental resources.” However, “actual departmental expenditures will not be known until after the event has concluded,” she writes.
While the actual Super Bowl events in San Francisco will be paid for by the (somewhat questionably) donation-driven Super Bowl 50 Host Committee, SF is still on the hook for the surrounding issues like transit, security, and clean-up.
As they did with the America's Cup (which left SF with an unpaid bill of $11.5 million), the Mayor's office is arguing that you gotta put some money in to get more out.
“If San Francisco has the same experience that other cities have had through the years, that will more than make up for any cost that we put out to host the Super Bowl,” Lee spokesperson Christine Falvey told the Chron. Howard appears to concur, saying in her memo that if the P&L of previous hosts are any indication, the tax revenues from the Super Bowl "are expected to more than offset any local expenditures on events."
Supes Jane Kim and John Avalos are not so sure, however. Avalos told the Ex that "the NFL should pay to offset the costs to the city and make up for the inconvenience to residents.”
Kim agrees, telling the Chron that the "richest corporations can pay for their own marketing and should cover that easily. If the estimate is wrong, then it’s even more important not to leave taxpayers with a fiscal hangover.”
“San Franciscans are excited to host the Super Bowl but not on the public taxpayer dime," she told the Ex.
According to host committee spokesperson Nate Ballard, though, we have nothing to worry about. The committee is putting aside $500,000 for any revenue shortfalls that might impact the city, he tells the Ex, so everything will be fine.
"The city," Ballard says, "is going to come out in the black."
Previously: Supervisors Already Annoyed About Super Bowl, Still Don't Know What It Will Cost City
Potential For Graft Suggested Among Super Bowl Committee Donors
