Meeting Minutes

Roll call. The chair called the meeting to order at 3:40 PM. Commissioners Beijen and Rojas were present. Commission Albright was excused.
There were no public comments.

Review and Approval of Minutes from May 6, 2008 Meeting
(ACTION ITEM). A motion to approve the minutes were approved by Commissioner Rojas and seconded by Commissioner Beijen.
Proposed Fiscal Year 2009-2010 Budget (DISCUSSION & ACTION ITEM).

Sue Wong, Director of Finance, Juvenile Probation Department, presented the FY 2009-2010 Budget and Reduction Plan memo and the high-level budget detail. Ms. Wong indicated that San Francisco has a deficit of $575 million and all departments have been asked to reduce their budget by 25%. This is a budget cut of $7.8 million and is comprised of two components. An immediate budget cut of $3.9 million and an additional cut of $2.9 million on a contingency plan.
The Governor’s latest proposal was going to cut about 11% from our JPCF funds and eliminate the branch portion. The two cuts total around $500,000. The state budget is supposed to be voted on any day. In the past, the legislature adopted the budget. Our local budget is due Friday, but will not reflect the $500,000 budget cuts.
If the Federal Stimulus Bill passes, the state will not have to cut into their social services programs.
We had a mid-year budget cut that totaled $1.6 million. We are asked to cut our next year’s budget to $3.9 million. We put together a packet that focuses on revenue generation and hopefully minimizes cuts. This is JPD’s fourth year in making cuts. Last year we made $2.6 million in cuts and eliminated 15 positions.
Three fees that we are proposing in the budget are the Juvenile Hall Daily Fee; Juvenile Camps Daily Fee; and the Juvenile Records Sealing Fee. These fees allow counties to recoup costs for the care of youths in custody to pay for food and institutional items. It does not pay for staff and building costs. This legislation was passed by the state in 1988 and the majority of counties charge these fees. San Francisco does not currently charge any fees.
The proposed Juvenile Hall Daily Fee would be $29.28/per day, which is the maximum allowable by the state; the Juvenile Camps Daily Fee would be $28.25/per day; and the Juvenile Records Sealing Fee would be $120/per sealing fee. Affordability is an issue. We would implement a sliding fee scale and create an affordability index. We would determine a fee that best matches household incomes. The fees will generate $600,000 in new revenue in our budget.
COMM Rojas asked what would happen if we only collected a portion of these fees and Ms. Wong indicated that she would have to identify $300,000 in budget cuts or ask the Controller’s office for a supplemental, which is standard practice.
Another revenue strategy would be a partnership with the Department of Public Health regarding Medi-Cal dollars through Early Periodic Screening Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) dollars, which is a matching revenue source. So whatever the City puts up in revenue, DPH can draw down a like-match from Medi-Cal dollars. There is an overlap of around 13 CBOs that are shared between departments and are Medi-Cal certified. We will work-order a portion of our CBO budget to DPH, which will allow us to change the funding base to 50% general fund and 50% Medi-Cal dollars, which generates general fund savings.
The expense reductions: The department is going to have to make cuts and have identified $250,000 in savings from the deletion of a couple of administrative positions. Between the expense reductions and the revenue ideas, we are looking at $1.45 million in general fund savings. This falls short of our $3.9 million target. We cannot cut any more on the expense side or could jeopardize public safety.
Trial Courts Facilities Act was more of an operational, than a budget change. We transferred 10% of the building to the state. This will become a court exclusive area: courtrooms, holding cells, and waiting rooms. This is now owned by the state and the department needs to work with their building superintendent as we move forward with facilities maintenance and capital projects.
The budget is due to the Mayor’s office on Friday, February 20^th. This marks the beginning of the budget discussions with the Mayor’s office. The Mayor introduces his budget on June 1^st.
COMM Rojas asked about the RFP contracts and the impact on the budget. Ms. Magee indicated that it will not be impacted on the budget and said that it is mostly administrative.
Ms. Wong provided an updated high-level budget summary. General fund support is the main source of funding source. On the expense side, salaries are the biggest part of the budget. Around 74% of the budget supports 243 staff at JPD and provided an Org Chart. The debt service is the biggest cost item related to the new Juvenile Hall, which is around $2.6 million dollars.
COMM Rojas asked which administrative positions have been identified to be cut. Ms. Magee stated that the positions have not been identified since the budget has not been finalized.
Public Comment:
Larry Jones, Representative, District 10. Opposed Daily Fee in Juvenile Hall. Low-income families are already experiencing cuts in services due to the economy and cannot afford to pay this fee. Any future RFP/RFQ should focus on the needs of the low-income youths.
No further public comment.
COMM Rojas made a motion to recommend that the budget proposal be approved at the next Full Commission. COMM Beijen seconded the motion.

Adjournment – (Action). There were no further public comments and the meeting adjourned at 4:22 PM.

Meeting Information

Finance_Committee

Meeting Minutes