Data Story

Capital Budget

Ongoing investment in capital and infrastructure at the City's General Fund departments.

Office of Resilience and Capital Planning

Current 2-year Capital Budget

The 2-year Capital Budget aims to keep City-owned facilities, roadways, and other infrastructure in good condition. The budget is a rolling 2-year budget. Allocations for the second year will be revisited during the next budget cycle.

The Capital Budget is primarily funded by the General Fund, which is the City's tax revenue.

Overview of current Capital Budget

The current 2-year Capital Budget for General Fund departments totals $474 million dollars. The largest investments go towards street resurfacing, capital enhancements, and facility renewal projects.

Data notes and sources

Data includes General Fund departments capital projects. Enterprise department projects are only included when they are funded with a Citywide funding source. Read more in the metadata notes.

Negative dollar amounts are re-allocations. This means the funds were de-appropriated (removed) from that project during that year. This is usually to use the funds on a different project.

Expenditure type descriptions:

  • Enhancements: Capital projects that improve, upgrade, or expand a capital asset.
  • Renewals: Projects that preserve or extend the useful life of an asset. This includes repairs and like-for-like replacements. For example, a roof or elevator replacement that exactly replaces but does not otherwise modernize/improve the asset.
  • Maintenance: Projects that provide for the day-to-day maintenance of existing buildings. Unlike renewals and enhancements, these are annual allocations.
  • Right-of-way (ROW) Renewals: Projects on streets, sidewalks, curbs, and other right-of-way infrastructure.
  • ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act): Projects that improve access or remove accessibility barriers. For example, an elevator installation or curb ramp construction.
  • Planning: Projects to plan large capital improvements or upcoming bond projects. This includes funding for staff time or contracting.
  • Street Resurfacing: Funding to repave and reconstruct streets and roads throughout San Francisco.
  • Other: All remaining projects.

Funding source descriptions:

  • Capital Planning Fund: A revolving fund to fund planning for large capital projects. Projects are typically upcoming G.O. Bond projects. Once the bond is approved by voters and funds are issued, the Capital Planning Fund is reimbursed.
  • Certificates of Participation (COP): A form of lease financing for capital improvement projects. COPs are loans to the City that are paid back by the General Fund.
  • Department Revenue: A department's own funds, usually this is carryforward from prior years.
  • Federal / State: Sources from the state and federal government, including grants and tax revenue.
  • General Fund: The City's largest source for discretionary spending. Revenue sources for the General Fund include local taxes such as property, sales, business, and others.
  • IPIC Area Plan Revenue: Revenue from the City's Area Plans, including development impact fees. Learn more about Area Plans.
  • Library Preservation Fund: The library's budgetary set-aside. Read more about the preservation fund.
  • Moscone Convention Facilities Fund: Revenues from Moscone Convention Center.
  • Other Local Sources: Other sources not included in this list.
  • REC Non General Fund Sources: Funding sources used by the Recreation and Parks Department. These include the Open Space fund, Yerba Buena Gardens funds, Marina Yacht Harbor fund, and others.

View source data.


Different types of capital projects

Explore different types of projects by selecting an expenditure type. This dashboard includes all funding sources, including non-General Fund sources.

Data notes and sources

Negative dollar amounts are re-allocations. This means the funds were de-appropriated (removed) from that project during that year. This is usually to use the funds on a different project.

Expenditure type descriptions:

  • Enhancements: Capital projects that improve, upgrade, or expand a capital asset.
  • Renewals: Projects that preserve or extend the useful life of an asset. This includes repairs and like-for-like replacements. For example, a roof or elevator replacement that exactly replaces but does not otherwise modernize/improve the asset.
  • Maintenance: Projects that provide for the day-to-day maintenance of existing buildings. Unlike renewals and enhancements, these are annual allocations.
  • Right-of-way (ROW) Renewals: Projects on streets, sidewalks, curbs, and other right-of-way infrastructure.
  • ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act): Projects that improve access or remove accessibility barriers. For example, an elevator installation or curb ramp construction.
  • Planning: Projects to plan large capital improvements or upcoming bond projects. This includes funding for staff time or contracting.
  • Street Resurfacing: Funding to repave and re-construct streets and roads throughout San Francisco.
  • Other: All remaining projects.

View source data.

Trends over time

The dashboard below includes all Capital Budget data from 2006 to present day. All dollar amounts shown here are the exact dollars budgeted in the listed year.

View a larger version of this dashboard on a laptop or computer.

Data notes and sources

Negative dollar amounts are re-allocations. This means the funds were de-appropriated (removed) from that project during that year. This is usually to use the funds on a different project.

View source data.

Full historical project list

The table below shows all projects funded in capital budgets from 2006 to present day. Filter by year, department, project type, or funding source.

View a larger version of this dashboard on a laptop or computer.

Data notes and sources

Negative dollar amounts are re-allocations. This means the funds were de-appropriated (removed) from that project during that year. This is usually to use the funds on a different project.

View source data.

About the Capital Budget

The Capital Planning Program began a coordinated capital budgeting process for all general fund departments in 2006. Having one capital budget enables the City to better prioritize and plan capital projects. The Capital Planning Program is within the City’s Office of Resilience and Capital Planning (ORCP).

These dashboards are limited to General Fund departments. General Fund departments are departments that do not collect revenue. They rely on the City's General Fund (tax revenues).

The dashboards do not include full capital budgets for enterprise departments like SFPUC, SFMTA, the Port, or the Airport. These departments generate their own revenue and manage their own capital budgets. Enterprise department projects are only included when they are funded with a Citywide funding source, such as IPIC Area Plan revenue.

The Capital Budget is only one part of all capital improvement work in the City. It includes projects funded primarily by the General Fund. The budget does not include other sources such as general obligation bonds (G.O. bonds) or revenue bonds. Learn more about the whole universe of capital projects in the City's 10-Year Capital Plan.

See dashboards on projects funded with G.O. bonds.

The City's Capital Budget program is also called the Pay-As-You-Go Program. Read more about the program in the City's Capital Plan.

Access the full Capital Budget dataset on the City's Open Data Portal.

Read more about The Office of Resilience and Capital Planning (ORCP).

Are you a City staff member looking for more data?

Email ORCP to learn about more data and dashboards.