LEVERS · ISSUE 01
Five levers that unblock the seven funds
Each lever is mechanical, not rhetorical. Each one names the office that controls it.
The pattern across the seven funds is consistent enough to fix structurally. The five changes below would each remove one of the named blockers across the whole portfolio. None of them require a ballot measure. All of them require a vote.
Lever 1
Put a sunset on every restricted fund
Each fund should have an end date. If the work is done, return the surplus. If the work isn’t done, return to voters. Sunsets close the door that scope-broadening votes open.
Lever 2
Cap carryover at one year of operations
Anything above one year of operating cost gets disbursed against the published plan within the next two budget cycles. A reserve is for volatility. A multi-year balance is undeployed capacity.
Lever 3
Require a binding multi-year deployment plan
Every fund publishes a five-year plan with quarterly reconciliation between awards and delivery. “Awarded” doesn’t equal weatherized, trained, built, or housed. The plan and the report use the same units.
Lever 4
Send any change in eligible uses back to voters
A simple-majority vote should not be enough to redefine what voter-restricted dollars can be spent on. New uses go on the next ballot, or come from a different source.
Lever 5
Require third-party verification of beneficiary outcomes
A bureau reporting on its own delivery is not the same as an auditor verifying it. Annual outcome verification — units occupied, kids enrolled, retrofits completed, jobs placed — should be a precondition for next year’s appropriation.