the market, in general the gets processed rather quickly. unfortunately, foreclosures and short sales, because it is not always market pricing, we have had to set them aside and put him in it with everything else. because of that, it might even take upwards of two years or 18 months to do those. so, obviously, we definitely get calls from your staff and tried to walk them thru with the status is for different ones. but for residential ones, it is primarily due to the fact that their short sales or foreclosures. what we have to do is determine the market value, and we cannot take only sales price by itself, so we have to look at comparable properties and do an analysis that is similar to how we do much larger properties. that is why it takes so much time. supervisor kim: because you have been able to dramatically reduce this number from 16,000 to 10,000 in the past year, do you

think that will continue with that additional staffing? >> yeah, the goal is to be caught up in six months. really, we are about, probably by the time we closed the fiscal year at the end of this month, probably be close to the 20 months. the idea is by june of next year to be almost at six months or to be pretty close to six months. supervisor kim: thank you. >> in previous years, there have been questions regarding metrics and performance standards. sorry for these small overhead. but this gives you an idea how we track each appraiser. it gives you a sense of their production and how much work has been done. this is a snapshot with not a lot of the numbers filled in. it just gives you a sense of what has been produced on a weekly basis. and i look out on this with the managers in my office as well as the individual supervisors for those units.

so we're tracking of the change in ownership, new construction, the condominiums, the assessment appeals cases, reductions, so we're doing this to a very fine level. we also weight them. people with larger properties will get a little more weighted value. we have a pretty decent and on how much production is going through on almost every staff level. this gives you an idea of our general fund budget. we were actually able to get a pretty significant increase in budget because of significant workload and money we have been able to bring in. we have seen a slight reduction this year, and that is probably due to the fact that we have money set aside for assessment appeals litigation that we do not feel we needed to keep holding onto, so part of that was given back during our budget process. last, another was a question regarding staffing and workload. you can see that our staffing

has gone from a point where we had about 112 permanent staff to now 130 permanent staff. the bulk of the staffing increase last year occurred for 24 time-limited staff. in this one line is just the assessment appeals shirts. even though we have had a slight increase in staffing, the assessment appeals have sort of gone way off the charts. so that is really that time- limited group of staff of 24 is really there to help us and that significant workload. we tried to map it with new construction, but we do not have as much good historical data for that, which is why we use assessment appeals as a proxy. and it then, last, there was a question regarding language access. that has been a major thing for me personally in our office. we have worked very closely with adrienne and her team to provide language services.

we have language clients in our office, the two phone lines were a taxpayer and our staff to talk with a taxpayer between. we have russian, chinese speaking step in our office. currently, if people request letters of assessed evaluation in spanish or chinese, we do that. we have had a couple hundred requests in that. we have gone requests in the past for cantonese, spanish, vietnamese, cambodian, russian, and caribbean, and their services we have been able to accommodate and work with folks. happy to stop there. we're in discussions with the budget analysts. we're not in complete agreement yet, but i anticipate we will be by this time last -- next week. supervisor chu: thank you. with regards to your expectations for the department going forward, in terms of the number of appeals, you still have a large number of outstanding appeals, but the

expectation is that is going to come down, correct? >> correct. we have a two-year lag. so we're working on appeals from two years ago. so over the next two years, we will see a pretty significant drop in appeals. talking to realtors and people in the industry, it is clear that the market has started to significantly rebound. we believe that two years from now, we probably will not be needing those 24 time-limited staff. if circumstances change, obviously we would bring that back before this body. but that is what we anticipate. supervisor chu: we have recently seen through the controller's office's report that transfer tax and spend at a very high level. in terms of your workload with regards to transfers, what do we expect from that. it sounds like they expect that the transfer tax level will not

sustain itself. it is sort of at a high level and probably will not continue for several years. >> that is probably true. i mean, we have not figured out where the new kind of sweet spot is with the 2008-2010 increase. in the past few years, you would probably say $80 million would have been given as the median market in the past. with the new increases, it is kind of hard for, at least to me, to say -- perhaps the controller's office will have better estimates, but in terms of property taxes, as appeals come down, our assessments or go up. so we will get more work on the assessment side, but i think we're much better prepared to handle that work than many of the assessment appeals which actually can be quite time intensive and take quite a bit of time on the staff. supervisor chu: i know that the

department has been working on a number of initiatives in conjunction with the treasurer's office. can you speak a little bit to that and where you are? >> we're very proud of the i.t. work. we have gone through the process. it has been wonderful. we actually came out as a top- rated project. we have been working on upgrading our assessment system, but we also have a number of other individual initiatives. we're going to be in e announcing-recordings -- we're going to be announcing e- recording and going paperless beard we will have an open portal for people to submit documents online, which i think is very exciting. we're trying to become much more user-friendly by putting a lot more of our documentation online. we have a youtube video that is used as a training video for filling out forms in our office. those are many of the initiatives that we're looking to push forward, and we're very

excited that every time we checked back in, we get a very positive response. supervisor chu: is there a general time line when some of these items might be implemented? >> the major issue for us moving forward is how we upgrade our assessment system, which is actually rather old and still in cobalt. no other major county in california has successfully upgraded their system. the one county we're looking at collaborating with more closely is orange county. a member of our staff took a trip down there last week to see if we could utilize what they have learned over the last couple of years, so we look at have been much closer collaboration with orange county to upgrade our property tax system. supervisor chu: thank you. supervisor kim? supervisor kim: i was also happy to hear that we were finally able to put in place some of the work you have been doing to update the technology and that it has been coming through

savings from over the past several years. because it is a large dollar amount. it is great to see the planning come into place this year. my questions were similar to what we have been asking other departments, which is -- first, professional services. how much does your department currently spent on professional services? what services do usually contract out for? >> we spend very, very little. my guess is probably less than 5%. the only kind of services to contract out for is we have a software vendor license. trying to think what other services to contract out. >> kimberly -- chief administrative officer. predominately it is i.t. so we contract out for our software vendor for it the easy access system. we also contract out for our recorder system called adpak. those of the two major services

contracts. supervisor kim: my next question is in particular for our homeowners. what percentage of your staff is a bilingual or spinks another language besides english, and how you provide language services when you need them -- or speak another language? >> we have a significant number of staff who are bilingual. primarily spanish thus speaking or mandarin and cantonese- speaking. we also translated lot of our information. part of our website assigned janice -- trainees or spanish. we have letters the got to taxpayers in spanish and chinese. and we can also use that phone to help with immediate, on the spot translations. supervisor kim: i saw that. you think what you have existing on staff meets the needs of your office? >> one challenging thing is, you know, stuff are sometimes

reticent about not reticent to help, but they do not necessarily get compensated for it. we have been encouraging more staff to get certified to the civil services system. it is also quite onerous. because once certified, they are required to spend a certain hours per week to provide those services. now, we do not necessarily feel like we have to set aside those hours. we really want them to be available if customers come on board, especially for the appraisers who this is their job to be working the front counter. it would be great for us to be a work more closely with dhr's on a more streamlined, a bilingual, language certification process, so that anybody who speaks the language could be certified in could get some compensation, because a lot of it is spur of the moment. we know we have a russian speaker in the office. is always very helpful, but some staff may not always have that same attitude.

supervisor kim: thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. why don't we move forward to the budget analyst report. >> madam chair, members, our recommended reductions total $783,340 in 2012-2013. $576,603 are one-time savings. this would be an increase of 1.9%. the 2012-2013 budget. regarding 2013-2014, our recommended reductions total $2,011,713, and they're all ongoing savings. and we're still working with the department, and we will report back to you next week. supervisor chu: thank you. colleagues, if there are no

questions, what to think the successor -- assessor for the presentation. supervisor kim: i am sorry. i noticed you had a drop in the second year, fy 2013-2014, down to $1.3 million. do you have a one-time project that is accounted for this drop by a professional services? i was just curious. >> is that in the general fund? or is that in the restricted funds? supervisor kim: we can talk about this offline. it is what i have under your line-item of professional services, which a allocated for fiscal year 2012-2013 and 2013- 2014. i think it is a mixture of funds. 2012-2013, you have allocated $2.7 million, and it declines

the next year to $1.3 million. >> yes, that is the one-time investment from our restricted fund that we're finding ourselves. the e-recording and the upgrade of the recorded division that was mentioned. supervisor kim: thank you. >> ok. supervisor chu: thank you. colleagues, we will go back to the general order of departments. the next department is the treasure island development authority. we have mary ann from treasure island. >> good afternoon. i am the director of island operations. before we reviewed the numbers, i would like to take a minute and highlight some of these from the past year. we were designated as a state redevelopment agency in february. we were not exercising redevelopment powers at the time of that de-designation.

so we continue as a nonprofit reuse authority for the planning in the future treasure island. in operations, staff continues to provide property management to our son 2,800 residents and commercial tenants. we continue to make good on our motto, recreation destination. this year we hosted the susan g. komen walk for the tour. the flea market is the monthly attraction, and we have five wineries. more importantly, our staff works tirelessly to improve the quality of life and the delivery of services for our residents. we installed chargers for electric jiggles this past year. we expanded our composting program. we granted a new lease for another food market to serve treasure island residents. in the area public safety, we have improved our street lighting. we rolled out the water for a

safety program to reduce risks. we exercise our first tabletop exercise for emergency response plans. lastly, in furtherance of the mayor's office initiatives, we housed homeless families by creating a temporary emergency housing plan to assist human services to meet their short- term housing needs for those displaced fire victims. this year's budget, the biggest step in the bombing for the coming years is the implementation of the early news associated with the transition plan, which will move ydi tenants to treasure island so the first phase can begin. we have budgeted accordingly for those moves. we predict annual revenues to be about $8.3 million, the majority of which is for housing revenue. another $2 million from

commercial residents, and the balance from special events. on the expenditure side, our expenses are contractually and work-order driven. our contracts include a large standing agreements with professional and specialized services. landscaping, a tool works, and tihdi, the treasure island housing development initiative which provides employment opportunities for those disadvantaged residents of san francisco. other community-based contracts include funding for the ymca, the boys and girls club, and catholic charities which keeps our child care services open. the remaining expenses are work order-driven with work orders with gs, dpw, pc, and the city attorney's office. next year, we will focus on quality of life issues. a number of enhancements are proposed, in addition to improving safety and risk.

including residential street paving projects. funding for youth to attempt -- to attend camp mendicity no overnight. the key priorities for the staff include the conveyance and transfer of the first phase, agreements for the expansion of the marina, and to begin their ramp improvement projects. again, we received no funds from the city to meet these obligations and capital needs. i request your approval of our bet -- of our budget. staff is available for any questions you may have. sueprvisor kim: thank you. sorry. i had a quick question. in terms of the relocation of the residents of treasure island, which i know we have been planning for for a long time, i was curious, with financing for the development as

a whole, as the developers seek financing, has there been any conversation in delaying the process until there is more certainty? or will we have it regardless of the fact that we do not know when the construction might begin? >> we are all confident at this point that next year we will be relocating residents. residents will be leaving no sooner than january, receiving a 90 day notice to move. we are confident that we're going to get started on the project in earnest beginning in july of next year. we do not want to delay the phasing of the project. >> we have some general commitments from the developer that we will be able to begin that work in july of 2013? >> right. there is plenty of infrastructure work to get it started. sueprvisor kim: >> i just want

to make sure that we are doing it when we need to, instead of when we planned to, regardless of when the work happened. >> that was understood with the residents in the meetings over the past month. sueprvisor kim: i knew that there was resolution around prevailing wage. i was hoping you could speak to that. >> we had an issue with our service contracts. on the tool works issue, we have resolved the treasure island contract for another year, with that training program. as you know, it is a 10-week program offered to individuals to gain experience and move on to the work world. the second contract that we have, which we have delayed for three months, as we seek to understand the language in the

agreement, which spoke to an area of standard wage, on the rubicon contract the staff was looking for three months to sort that out for your approval and resolution of that contract. thank you. sueprvisor kim: looks like in your budget there is the addition of a senior analyst being requested. is that the 1 new position? >> correct. sueprvisor kim: can you explain the position in terms of the redevelopment implementation plan? speak to me about why you could not absorb this within the work of your existing staff. >> as you know, development projects, those needs ebb and flow. the transition plan has begun in earnest. we believed that we needed staff

with experience in special projects relocation to meet those needs. sueprvisor kim: is this decision a time-limited position? how long would you expect that you need to service it? >> for a couple of years through the transition process. sueprvisor kim: so, it is a permanent position? >> as permanent as it can be. sorry, i have been corrected. it is time-limited. >> in the administrative services budget, we have recommended this position to be unlimited, a 10-year position. supervisor chu: thank you. we are fine with that. >>ok, thank you.

i know that there are no recommendations, perce, attached to this component. >> we would be glad to respond to any questions. supervisor chu: thank you. given that there are no recommendations at this time and we will take a look at it as it comes along, i do not believe that we will require you to come back next week. thank you. the next department is the department of building inspection. >> good afternoon.

we have a short presentation that we would like to make on the budget. before that, the president of our commission would like to say a few words. >> thank you, supervisors. my name is angus mccarthy. i would like to thank the madam chair for giving me my opportunity to come and talk. i would like to be here to show our support for the staff, for the many years they have been keeping the department going. the budget before you today, i believe this task -- the staff asked for a 4% to 5% increase. i believe that the budget analysis is coming back with 1%. i am here to reinforce one very important factor. we have seen a lot of major changes in the city.

the big department is an important part of that change. but the growth happening in the town, one of the things that we have right now, which worries me, going forward in the budget, we have a lot of positions we are trying to fill. we are learning, very lately, how hard it is to fill these positions. lots of stones from the department need to be met to meet these positions. this year alone i believe we will have almost seven new staff that are badly needed. you will hear testimony from the different department heads on the kind of volume we are experiencing. it is not necessarily just small projects, but very large projects. we are very understaffed to deal with this and it will take as a few years to catch up. one of my concerns looking

forward is that the supervisors recognize that we constantly have to fill these positions and it takes time. we have not had serious training in the department since 2006, which we are trying to do now, because of code enforcement updated. i really would recommend that when it comes to the staffing level, that you give us all the support that you have from the last couple of years. i will not take any more of your time, but thank you for giving me the opportunity to say these few words. supervisor chu: thank you very much. >> good afternoon. pamela lebron. i have a short presentation to give you. to set the stage, when we were here in 2009, we had just cut 25% of our staff because of the

sharp decline in construction activity. it is now 2012 and construction activity has rebounded in terms of the number and complexity of permits. as you can see from the graft, our permits continued to grow. we also have been deputy director of permit services, who can answer specific questions. right now we have 5200 units being checked. we have huge, large projects that have had to go into hibernation during the problems with the economy that we have had. we have had a rebirth and are working on those. we do need additional staff to keep up with the increased volume in energy building conservation. the staff includes engineers,

inspectors for plan shack, and care professional permit technicians. an increase in temporary help is requested to allow timely review as new staff are hired and trained. once trained for that second year, we will reduce the amount of temporary. in terms of inspections, we have also seen an increase in the number of required inspections. this also increases as you have larger projects. obviously, there are multiple types of inspections not on the smaller projects. we are also increasing the number of emphasis on code enforcement. additional staff is required to keep up with the volume on the new regulation and high-rise

building. as i mentioned, code enforcement throughout the department. this includes building inspectors, electrical inspectors, and plumbing inspectors. we are also requesting an increase in temporary housing over time to allow for the completion of all our inspections in predominantly high-rise buildings until the staff are hired and trained. the overtime will be covered in the fiscal year 2013-2014. the mayor's proposed budget includes additional resources for departmental support, including staff for mis, records management, and payment personnel. in terms of records management, there has been an increase in the buying and selling of buildings