The Presidio is one of the most efficiently run agencies in the federal government, and it is entirely self-sufficient in its operations and finances.
The Presidio Trust largely acts without assistance from the rest of the federal government, several former board members said, with the exception of three components: the members of the board, six of whom are appointed by the president for a four-year term; law enforcement from the U.S. Park Police, and staff categorized as federal employees.
Both the expenses for the U.S. Park Police and the trust’s staff, however, are paid by the trust and not the federal government, and all three of those functions are outlined in the legislation that created the trust and thus exempt from executive action.
“There’s really nothing that can be done by one president to abolish or eliminate or harm the trust — unless there’s some money that’s been granted and maybe that’s being eliminated,” former board chair Marie Hurabiell told the Chronicle. “That would be unfortunate, but that’s not eliminating the trust. That’s not abolishing the trust.”
The park is the only one of its kind: an independent federal corporation that manages historic buildings, public parks and forests, commercial and residential real estate and utility and road infrastructure, all without relying on taxpayer funds — a mandate of its existence.
The agency has received federal appropriations only once since 2013, in order to make necessary infrastructure improvements.
While Trump’s order cannot eliminate the trust, he could target recent appropriations for capital improvements at the park.
Hurabiell, who led the board in 2021, said a lot of needed maintenance has been delayed for decades. The military knew the base would be closing and didn’t do some maintenance in its final years of operations. The trust had a deadline by which it had to be financially self-sufficient, so the board focused on maintenance necessary to start making money in its early years, she said.
The park currently has about $500 million in rehabilitation and maintenance needs, according to a 2024 report.
Congress appropriated $200 million for the trust in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act for long-needed capital improvements, including updating the “outdated Army-era power grid” and completing deferred maintenance on historic buildings, according to the report. That funding is held in the trust’s U.S. Treasury account and is required to remain available until October 2026.
The IRA funding is critical for the park’s large infrastructure projects.
“We can’t issue bonds and get large loans,” CEO Jean Fraser told the Chronicle in 2019. “We have to make money each year and hoard it up until we have enough to do the next project.”
Add new comment