Good morning. The meeting will knh to order. This is the meeting of government and Oversight Committee of september 3, 2015. Im supervisor yee and to my right is supervisor christensen and to my left is supervisor breed. The Committee Clerk is alisa samara. We would like toacknowledge james smi i Joshua Alexander who record each 06 the meetings and make the transcript available on line please make sure to sulins all cell phones [inaudible] will appear on september 15 board of supervisor agenda unless otherwise stated okay. So lets call item 1 item one is a motion directing the budget and legislative analyst to conduct a odd otproinvestigations of services to senior including funded sources, corp jaigz duplication of sourfbs and monitor perforumance and out come since i have taken caufs aufs i center been working on improving Senior Services not just in my own district but a cross the city. This enables me to focus on the needs of the senior population today. As you know our city in general is getting older and in certain districts or percentage of seniors have been growing and particularly my district, district 4 and a few other dist rgz. As the population grows, it doesnt seem we are keeping up with the services needed and especially with todays population where the average age is increasing. Seniors are living longer and healthier so there has to be some real deep look at in terms of what ask is really needed as we move forward ipthe future so colleagues i appreciate your support. Any comments . Supervisor yee i had a question of clarification because it is my understanding the audits are conducted by the Controllers Office and know that your resolution in particular suggests that the budget and legislative analyst conduct those particular audits. I just wanted to know why not the Controllers Office . Good afternoon supervisor breed and the chair. [inaudible] budget legislative analyst office. In fact the board of supervisors has authority over city departments under theit is a charter provision and our annual work plan does infact require and include for us to do performance audits so this is actually part of our regular work plan and something we do every year for the board. It is through a full motion of the board. I got it. Thank you for the clarification and thank you supervisor yee. I think this is definitely something we need to caa lot more consistently. The city does a lot of work during the budget season to issue funding to a lot of organizations all over the city that serve not just our senior population but children and folks in need and the questions i constantly get askicide where are the services and hot is going on, is there oversight and how is the money being spent and are the organizations delivering fl people we expect them to deliver for with the dpunding that they receive. I think it is important we are a lot more consistent in our over voith and making sure those serviceerize being delivered and the funding is manlagement appropriately so thank you and move the item forward. Any Public Comment for this item . [inaudible] no more labor day. Just kidding. I dont want to be a supervisor. I want to be mayor because i dont want to waste my talent on [inaudible] peoples politic is [inaudible] thank you. Good morning commissioners im patrick [inaudible] i appreciate you introducing this chair yee and im glad to see that its going to be conducted by [inaudible] as you [inaudible] advocating with the Health Commission and particularly the laguna [inaudible] Conference Committee to accurately report how many out of county discharges have been occurring at laguna hondaidating back to at least 2007. The exectev administrator of the hospital [inaudible] this started last year reporting a number of out of county discharges, but she keeps move the yard stick which they are being measured across different periods so is all most impossible to figure out from her reporting how many out of county discharges of the elderly and disibleed are occurring. I would strongly ask that you direct mrs. Roses staff to dig in to this, both the department of Public Health and adult and aging department had been contracting for years with r [inaudible] who developed a data base that contains the discharge facility. That data is available, but dph is refusing to provide the data dictionary for that database, but the developer of it at rfz will not release the data [inaudible] thank you. I encourage you to dig into where our elderly a being discharged thank you for your comments on that issue and will take that into crrshz. Any other comments on this issue . Seeing none. Can i have a motion. Where no ubjckz the motion passes. Item number 2. Would you like me to call item 2 and 3 together . Item 2 and 3 item 2 and flee is a hearing and resolution on the 2014, 15 grand jury report [inaudible] despite progress still the lowest rated in the state. Okay. Good morning supervisor yee, christensen is breed, im [inaudible] with the 2014, 15 civil grand jury and would like to introduce [inaudible] who is the [inaudible] thank you. Im aleg ruand in the odd ynss is dan [inaudible] quhoo also worked on the report. So we would like to thank chair yee and supervisor breed and christensen for holding the hearing on the report. This is a report on the [inaudible] officer of [inaudible] reducing the 4 year back log. Since that report came out there have been many changes and command the offices for the improvements that have been made. Never the less, problems still remain. Primary among them the office still has been unable to eliminate back log sufficiently enough to improve the assessment ratio what we refer to as theirerating from had california state board of equalization to getter the ideal ratio of 100. There are 3 points we want to make. One, county has it worst assessment ratio in the state indicating under evaluation of property probably due to [inaudible] this has been consistent over the years to the point where we could easily imagage if the state board of equalization came in tomorrow to do a survey is San Franciscos oar would probably still be the lowest chblt we hope to be proven wrong when the next survey is done later this year. I know our ratio of 97. 59 seems like a small deviation of only 2. 41 but it represented in 2010 11 when the Previous Survey was completed at best delayed text ruv new of 38 Million Dollars to the state and coupty including funding to San Francisco unified school district, the Community College district, bayair yeah air cault, bart and San Francisco symphony. Not only does our ratio indicate a back log problem but no other county in the state has the lovel of problem that we have with our back log. We looked at the most recent boe reports for all counties in the state. Back log was mentioned at only 3 other county reports and unlike San Francisco no other county has a back log severe enough to warrant a recommendation from the boe to correct it. Our third point, we asked ourselves why. Other counties most particularly la and san diego are surely impacted by economic fluctuations in the Real Estate Market, increases appeals resulting from the 2008 downturn and a varied property stock which makes assessment more complex. Despite these types of conditions compared to to San Francisco ratio of 97. 59, la had a assessment ratio of 100. 03 and san day eggo is 100. 22. Time and again we were told staff has 3 to 4 years to complete assessment. This idea is reiterated in the assess rb response to our report. The office continues to insist there is need to assess property in a timely manner. The state requirement that all property in San Francisco is appraised and [inaudible] determined by the lean date of jan 1 of the year. Not a requirement. This is wrong. The boe insistatize is a requirement even though the way the state law is written allows for out. Ways of prolonging the process without penalty. Only assess mentd processes delays exceed 4 yearicize there a penalty and loss of tax revenue. No one expects the office to meet the deadline every time. It was graphically clear how complex the assessment prauls process can be. The office doesnt have control over every factor that may cause delays. There is also a discussion in the rorlt of the definitional problem with the idea of back log oppose today a work loud mpt what is a back log . If the oar is [inaudible] the other would only have had a back log of 39 properties in june of 2015 that would cause a loss of revenue. A number so low it is hardly worth a boe remation. This back log pending work load was a problem in the 05, 06 civil grand jury report. 26, 600 parcels were reviewed as a back law log and other times a work load. In february 2015, that number was down to 16, 852 which is a note worthy decrease and also included cases that might be deutschicates and new construction not eligible for reassessment which is mentioned in the report. Why is it not clear what is work load and what is back log . It is dictated by the time cases were opened or the event be it a change of ownership or new construction happened. If the caseerize not being resolved in a timely manner they become back log but stins Office Denies they are required to complete the Assessment Office by the loom date it is impossible for them to declare a back log. Just ask them how Many Properties are in their back log today, which leadstuse a recommendation. Asking for greater clarity in the annual report where this may be spelled out and everyone gets on the same page. For our research we believe the oar is understaffed thmpt recent grant of 1. 2 Million Dollars over a 3 year period from the stateo count assesser part nurship program is for the elimination of the back log and we believe will go a long way toward that end. As long thaz oar is supported by the mayor and board of supervisors most lae particularly in terms of required matching money and funding administrative and other positions and the property tax assessment data base replacement. To make a stronger case, the need for more staff the civil grand jury would like to see a staffing analysis and Long Term Plan for had elimination thof back log. All though the responses from the mayor and oar indicate there was a staffing analysis done for had annual appropriation process this is news to us. We did make a request for the analysis and not sure it is what we mean by a staffing analysis but we have yet to receive it. We are happy to hear the oar will develop a Long Term Plan. I hope the mayor and supervisors will review st. Clarfully. Giving the oar the resources necessary to eliminate the back log is a safe investment that will lead to a timely [inaudible] is there a daniel cheser . Thank you very much. [inaudible] is here to respond inoffice of assessers recorder. Good morning ing members. My name is edwin mu cafry. I like to thank the members of the committee for your understanding of the challenges our office faces and being supportive of our goal to do our work better. Whether it is passing legislation or prubing additional funding in the budgealt your back alloyed us to improve the infrastructure. I thrike also thank the citizen volunteers for their dedication, time and for recognizing and highlighting the importance of supporting the mission oaf our office. As you know, our goal is to build a better San Francisco through superior customer service, fair Property Taxation and preservation of public records. Today im here to address the civil grand jury report may 2015. Our response is available in your packet but out of respect for your time i would like to touch oa couple items. One of the issues raised is resources our office. When considering our office is smaubl for generates 1 3 of the revenue we feel the office as a whole does well. Over the last few years we have been proactive in advocating for a increased buchblgt and funding alternative chblt november 2014 our office was [inaudible] the state grand design td as a 3 Year Pilot Program will provide 1. 2 Million Dollars in matching monies to help our office perform essential property tax duties. I would like to thank the board of supervisors and Mayors Office for approving our budget for 15 16 to support staffing and technology improvements. Our Admin Division [inaudible] this alaunchg with our increased budget for fy 15 16 puts us in a good place [inaudible] in the grand jury report they recommend we clear the back log by 15 16 but feel this is unrealistic. Success in this area will include receiving additional budget support for operations in future years, identifying operational efficientcy, support in the hiring process and marth condition which drive the number of appeals, change in ownership and new construction cases our office receives. As we concluded in our rortd we agree with the civil grand jury recommendation to support the aufs. We agree with the assess mentd that we made significant progress and there is a large number that remains. They share their dedication and commitment to the common goal. Thoferb next year well refine the Long Term Plan and report back to the the board with the progress. How we can clous this gap in what we need. Thank you for your time and happy to answer any questions you may have. I know that it is mentioned earlier about the assessment ratio, what is that . Thank you for the question and im happy to answer it. Before i going into had nuts i bolts and want to explain the assessment ratio is determined by the board of equalization, the boe, and the boe is a set of elective representative with a main goal to insure Property Taxation is consistants among all 58 countings. With regard to the assessment ratio, the beau did a random saimpling of 300 parcels in the city and county oof San Francisco. They assessed each of those parcels in the city and county of San Francisco and compared what they came with, what they came to conclusion with, with what we have in our record. They took their findings and compared to what we have. The be erfx set a value of 100 for assessment ratio and any assessment lets less was deemed lower and more than the value was deemed higher. It is important to note the sample, the 300 that was taken was at a point in time, it didnt factor in statute limitation so tfs a snapshop. Our report score was 97. 59. It is also important to note that some counties were over 100 so some were down and some were over. It is less about efficiency. It seems less about efficiency and more about accuracy. Absolutely. We agree with that statement which is that it doesnt speak the efficiency of our office. I think with the assessment ratio it leaves out 2 key things when dealing with appraising property and the first is staffing. The assessment ratio that the boe did in 2011 which is now 5 years old didnt take into account staffing from county to county and if the staffing was at requeed levels or appropriate levels to handle the work queue. In addition, the assessment ratio didnt take into account the clum lexties of specific properties in each county and as i know that carmen chew mention thood the board in the past, San Francisco is a very unique place. We have on one side of the sthreet you can have a old victorian and on the other side condominiums and each of those parcels require a lot of intense and delicate and detailed assessment to make sure we have sth right value. Other counties throughout the state have more track homes which is a different aproferp and more consistent when applying a value and so we feel that the assessment ratio didsant take into account how well we did our work, when we did our work or explain how we actually did our work. From our standpoint we feel the assessment ratio doesnt speak to efficiency. Thank you. Supervisor breed. Yes, i just had a question about the staffing analysis. The staffing analysis is something that you have but it hasnt been shared with the civil grand jury or they are not necessarilycan you explain because it sounds like you have one, but it is not what they are looking for so can you explain what you have and i would also like a explanation from the civil grand jury of what specifically they are looking for and why the staffing analysis isnt sufficient. They medicationed they asked for the staff ing analset and hadnt provided it it them. They asked for that analysis within the last couple week squz we are working on getting them what they need. To your question on what the staffing analysis consists of and we reported this in the Budget Committee in june and went over the number of staff that we have and also the amount of work that those staff do in accordance with the appraisals they work on a monthly basis and comparing those number jz that is something we have provided to them in the past. Have you provided it to the civil grand jury in a complete form . We have provided to them what we had available to them. But it wasnt completed . There is missing information . We are as mentioned working to improve our staffing analysis and continue to do that and like i based on the recommendation, what we provide in the past is what we had and work to continuely improve it does anyone from the civil grand jury want to respond to the staff analysis with clarity as to why it was not sufficient and what the recommendation is to improve it . In our report we didnt lay out how a description of what we were expecting but clearly in our minds we were thinking given the fact so much of their work is dependent on economic fluctuation in the Real Estate Market and that sort of thing that they would be able to project out into the future give an market that is up or down or many staff they need. They look at