Port cash drifts to The City
By Katie Worth
Examiner Staff Writer 10/5/08
Tourist attraction: The Port of San Francisco attracts millions of visitors each year. Cindy Chew/The Examiner SAN FRANCISCO – Despite its problems making ends meet, the perpetually cash-poor Port of San Francisco makes big bucks for The City, according to a new economic analysis.
The Port’s 7.5 miles of shoreline property is home to some of San Francisco’s main tourist attractions, which bring millions of visitors each year to The City.
Nonetheless, the Port is struggling to fund $1.9 billion for capital-improvement projects, including repairing rotting piers and improving sewer systems. To date, only $800 million in funding has been identified for the infrastructure needs, said Tina Olson, the port’s finance director.
As one of The City’s enterprise departments, the port is expected to sustain itself with its own revenues and not draw from city or state taxes. But in recent years, it has explored ways to creatively take advantage of public pots of money.
The Port will receive about $33 million from a general-obligation bond passed by voters in January to improve The City’s parks and open spaces.
Additionally, a November ballot measure, if passed, would set aside a portion of city taxes generated by the restoration of Pier 70 to pay off the bonds used for the project.
Olson said Port officials are also looking into tapping into federal dollars to clear the many “ghost piles” along the waterfront — the piles that stick out of the water but no longer support a wharf. She said the Port also intends to push a bill through the Legislature to allow it to collect future property taxes in certain areas that would otherwise have gone to the state.
Although one Port staffer said the study could be used to argue that the port deserves more city funds — for example, a portion of San Francisco’s hotel taxes — Olson said such an argument would be difficult to make.
San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau President Joe D’Alessandro said he doubted there would be support for giving hotel tax money — projected to bring in $241.2 million in the fiscal year 2008-09 — for Port operations.
“But if there was specific justification for specific projects — maybe something like a new cruise terminal — I think people would be more willing to listen,” he said.
By the numbers
$1.7 billion: Citywide direct and indirect economic impact of Port of San Francisco
20.6 million: Square feet of commercial space on the Port
9,500: Private sector jobs in the Port
3,100: Retail and restaurant jobs
323: Percent gain in cruise passengers coming into the port, from 2002 to 2006
15: Percent increase in ferry ridership
$25 million: Annual tax revenue The City receives from economic activities at the Port
Source: Port of San Francisco
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