Benicia Finance Committee members on Thursday will look at a proposed method of overseeing the expenditure of Measure C sales tax money.

Finance Director Karin Schnaider has developed a grid that lists specific projects authorized by the City Council to be underwritten by the sales tax money, as well as when the projects are expected to be undertaken.

Other columns on the grid list estimated costs, the money budgeted for the projects, department managers and each project’s status.

The Finance Committee is the tax oversight panel, charged with reviewing receipt and expenditure of the revenue that comes from the 1-cent local sales tax increase approved Nov. 4, 2014, by Benicia voters.

The panel also is required to report to the Council how the money is being used, whether that use complies with the Council’s priorities, and the status and performance of the projects and services being underwritten by Measure C money.

However, the panel isn’t supposed to direct city employees about the projects, to make recommendations about contracts or to define the scope of any Measure C project. Those are the responsibilities of the Council, according to the Measure C resolution passed by the Council.

Nor is the Finance Committee the auditing body. That duty remains with the city’s independent auditors, currently Maze and Associates.

Measure C is a general tax, rather than one developed to pay for specific projects. Some of the money it generates will be used for municipal services.

However, the Council has listed several projects for the first two years of Measure C income, starting with replacing the damaged First Street promenade railing, estimated to cost $150,000.

Other projects are replacing outdated police radios, $80,000; replacing damaged playground equipment, $200,000; and upgrading old police and fire dispatch and records systems, at $400,000.

Another $50,000 is expected to be spent toward improvements to Benicia Industrial Park roads; $292,000 has been earmarked for the purchase of a wildland fire engine to fight grass fires; and $100,000 would be spent on developing a stormwater management and flood mitigation plan.

Road repairs account for $200,000 in planned expenditures; improvements to Southampton Road, Panorama Drive and Hastings Drive in particular would use up $500,000; and patching and paving Industrial Way from Teal Drive to Lake Herman Road would take $1 million.

Another $448,491 would be spent on a Type 1 fire engine, and $400,000 would be spent on repairing the James Lemos Aquatic Center pool deck and restrooms.

Also Thursday, the Finance Committee will complete its open government awareness training, review its work plan and hear a progress report on the enterprise resource planning citywide finance software program purchase.

The meeting starts at 9 a.m. Thursday in the Commission Room of City Hall, 250 East L St.

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