SaveMUNI, San Francisco’s independent transit advocacy organization, supports both transit tax measures on the November ballot. Connect Bay Area (the regional measure) and Stronger Muni for All (the San Francisco measure) will assure stable funding for transit operations so that Bay Area transit agencies can continue and even increase levels of service.
However SaveMUNI believes that Bay Area transit agencies must operate more efficiently. We are heartened to note that the regional measure imposes “strict oversight and transparency to ensure that every dollar is spent efficiently” as well as a “citizens oversight committee to monitor spending, publish reports and ensure compliance” Similarly, the San Francisco measure requires an independent consultant to identify cost saving measures and action strategies to “deliver increased and improved service” and a citizens group to review and report on revenues and expenditures from the tax.
In the past we have seen oversight of transportation revenue measures fail for a variety of reasons. Therefore we recommend that the oversight boards required under the transit tax measures follow the following guidelines:
(1) No member of the either Board should have a connection with any transit operator. Instead appointees should come exclusively from citizen groups and transit experts
(2) To ensure that the oversight committees can do their jobs, board members should be compensated for their service and allowed to hire staff and consultants to aid them in fulfilling their responsibilities.
(3) The oversight committees should hold well publicized hearings at least twice a year in order to hear concerns from the public and report back about the effectiveness of the expenditures from the taxes.
(4) The oversight committees should each select an Inspector General, who has powers of subpoena, to lead investigations into any agency or project funded in whole or in part under these tax measures.
(5) Recommendations from the oversight committees should be considered by agencies, transit operators and other government officials with the same seriousness as those coming from civil grand juries.
We urge advocates for the transit tax measures to join with SaveMUNI in supporting these recommendations for effective, independent oversight. And we urge the appointing authorities to adopt these proposals for appointment and functioning of the required oversight committees.