April 22, 2025

Image generated using Dall-E

Your public works infrastructure is decaying without a fiscally sustainable plan to replenish it, says SHIFT-Bay Area’s sustainability director Gregg Dieguez. Here, Dieguez argues that higher taxes could be coming. An Opp Now exclusive.

Allowing public works to fall into disrepair will lead to critical failures that will ultimately burden residents more when costly emergency remedies become necessary and when borrowing, at 70% additional cost, must be used to replenish exhausted assets. I’m not saying your Government is lying to you about this situation because most of them don’t even realize it. (And that’s another problem we’re trying to fix…)

But what is coming to a ballot bond or tax measure near you soon is a request for a lot more of your money. And much of it does not deserve to be funded. And for the parts that are valid, we need effective Oversight. In addition, we need a new model of governance because continuing to fund what got us into this mess is just insanity.

In an analysis last year, I found $6.7 Billion in reserve deficits for SFPUC. Those are the folks who provide 3.5 Bay Area counties most of their water. SFPUC is not only “under water”; it has so much bond debt that it is cash flow negative. (Ratepayers should expect 20% rate increases for the next couple of years.) But that’s just one example of infrastructure you fund that is economically failing; there will be many more. Here’s why…