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Finance_Committee

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MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 16, 2000 FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING
Held at YGC conference rm, 375 Woodside Ave, San Francisco.

1. (ACTION) Roll Call
The meeting was called to order at 5:51 pm by Comm. Shimko. Comm Julian was present at the gavel. Comm. Jackson-Drake arrived at 5:55 pm. CPO Williams, DCPO Tucker, Sandy Brown-Richardson, Ed Lopatin, were present for the Dept.
2. (ACTION) Review Minutes of November 15, 1999 meeting
Upon motion by Comm. Julian, seconded and carried, the minutes were approved as written.
3.          (ACTION) Discussion, consideration and possible action to recommend
           to full Commission, Dept.’s FY 2000-2001 operating budget.
Sandy Brown-Richardson explained that this is a baseline budget, as requested by the Mayor’s office, which gave them very little flexibility in re-allocating amounts between line items. There are basically changes (increases) in salaries due to step increases for various positions, with a few positions being re assigned from one division to another. Other than that there are requests for equipment.
It was noted that there were reductions as well as increases to contract amounts for work done for the Probation Dept. by other City depts. (eg. DPW, DTIS)
Comm. Jackson-Drake asked what the category of expenses for the Commission was. Answer: basically it is set aside to pay for Commissioner meetings stipends, expenses of holding the Commissions meeting offsite, Commission office needs (eg. computer equipment).
Comm. Jackson-Drake asked how the cost amounts for psychological evaluations are arrived at. Answer: historically it’s been requested at this level and they never needed to increase it, but that may need to be considered in future budgets.
E. Lopatin explained the Juvenile Hall division budget. The largest issue for this division is keeping OT expense down. They have had a difficult time keeping an adequate On-Call list of counselors, but will be reducing its temp. salaries and shifting the amounts to offset OT costs. Training costs are also up due to the move toward ACA accreditation.
Chief Williams mentioned an example of rising staff costs from one detainee who needed direct, individual supervision 24/7, due to health issues. And there could be more in the future.
Lopatin reported that two pieces of heavy equipment (service vehicles) were being requested for LCR, to replace two very old items.
S. Brown-Richardson said that there were no changes in the Children’s Baseline budget.
Comm. Shimko asked about enhancements (additional programmatic activities that were previously included in the budget).
Brown-Richardson reported that the Mayor’s office is now expecting individual city depts to absorb all cost increases due to negotiated MOUs they have with all their unions. This was an expense previously taken care of by the general fund. That will not happen this time. That estimated cost is $550K for the Probation Dept. In view of this, and the Mayor’s directive for a baseline budget, there are no enhancements included.
However, a budget for enhancements will be constructed and submitted around about March 9, prioritizing activities which are not part of baseline. Informally, the Mayor’s Budget Office has indicated that such a budget proposal will be given consideration, with an eye to one time only (no re-curring) expenses.
Comm. Shimko asked about the impact of the increased costs from the MOUs. Brown-Richardson said that it will probably mean holding vacant a number of positions and using those funds to pay for whatever increases in personnel costs arising from MOUs. Result? Less staff, less opportunity to perform expanded services.
Comm. Jackson-Drake asked if the CBOs were given increases under the new budget. Answer: not on the same levels as before. There are some written in under TANF funding. Comm. Jackson-Drake asked if the Dept were fully computerized now. Answer: no. This is an issue being included in that one time expense request.
4.          (DISCUSSION) Public Comments. There were none.
5.          (ACTION) Adjournment          The meeting was adjourned at 6:32 pm.

Meeting Information

Finance_Committee