let me just throw -- because the other side doesn't want to say this, so i will say it. the 6 c1 this. i will say it. the city and county of san francisco cannot continue to be the entity that bill sacramento out of its problems. we have tens of millions of dollars of course of the services that we cut, year after year, because sacramento cannot get their act together. $13 million, if the idea is to take $13 million out of the $30 million set aside for state reserves, what did we talk about five minutes ago? sacramento is going to decimate that budget come february and march, we are going to need the $30 million or whatever else they are going to cut, and where does the $13 million come from? general fund reserves? one of our key structural problems is that we are constantly trying to fix what the federal government fails to do and what the state fails to do, and as a result, core city

services get ignored. we have to focus on the core city services. i absolutely agree these are wonderful services that need to be protected, but you know what? we have tens of millions of wonderful city services that are definitely over responsibility. this is sacramento's responsibility. we cannot keep picking up the ball from them when we are dropping the ball on our city responsibilities. supervisor mirkarimi: very quotable. i agree. i want to follow on our discussion, talking with the mayor's office. it is good to line up what the all looks are. i do not think any of us would disagree that this is sacramento's mess we are having to shoulder. however, in this case, it is the people of san francisco's mess and harm that is being caused that we have to shoulder, and i think we are trying to figure out the options. it sounds like there are very few if none. >> at the moment, the department

are working to transition as many of these needy families and kids on to the available slots in some other way. that would minimize the impact on those families. i certainly could get back to you next week at the beginning of the week about the specific details of what a plan might look like, but i do not have numbers in front of me today or a systemic outlined. but i think it is a conversation that will be happening over the next several days and would be happy to work with you on it. supervisor mirkarimi: ok, thank you. >> i am going to continue on slide 7, where i just have a few comments on the property tax. i think we have basically covered that the year and was about $18 million before the projection because of some late

fundamental assessments. the secured growth was 5% higher than anticipated as a result of those late assessments that were impact enrolled. as i mentioned, we are projecting an $18 million surplus after setting aside a certain amount for appeals. we do not yet have the total number for 2010. the assessment appeals board is still entering the appeals into their database. i hope that in a few weeks we will have a better picture of the universe, although we will not know until we get decisions and know how much people are receiving. chairperson avalos: last year, the appeals board hired additional staff or transferred staff. is that happening again this year, because there has been a high volume of appeals that came in? >> i believe they are hiring additional temporary staff, perhaps not as severelylast year, which is why we are getting a letter result on this.

going over the department to results -- departmental results, the most significant is the shortfall in the hospital fee, the new state program that assesses fees on private hospitals and allows the state to draw down additional federal funds and return some of those revenues to the public as well as the private hospitals. there is still -- there have been developments on that that reduce the retroactivity, which is why the department has said there is at least a shortfall of $26.50 million. more of those funds remain uncertain, as we will mention in another slide. on the fmap, the federal medical assistance percentage, that was reduced somewhat. they did in have some of their funds, and their estimate was

met. from our uncertain revenues, the mental health state plan amendment, the department is telling us, is still not complete, but is likely to have reduced retroactivity. the one departmental expenditure item that was reported was staffing at the sheriff's department. at this stage, we are anticipating a $4 million shortfall there and potential need for something in that area if no other measures are taken in that area to reduce the shortfall. finally, there is an item related to federal policy around the human services agency employment and training program, resulting in a $1.70 million shortfall. on the plus side, we have refinancing savings on our debt service, resulting in $2.70 million to the good. that will make that $38 million category.

the next slide is a summary on our uncertain revenues. the largest items were the hospital fee and the federal medical assistance percentage and the mental health state plan amendment. of these, we have strong confidence on the final number of the enhanced federal medical assistance percentage, because that was approved by congress. the hospital fees still requires final approval. it is looking good, according to the department, but there is uncertainty about formulas, uncertainty about the total amount of money we will get, which we are estimating a $13 million range in what we might receive there. on the mental health state plan amendment, that is delayed in terms of its process. there is a lot more uncertainty around it. i think it is likely it will be less than the maximum that was assumed. the remaining $8.60 million is still regarded as uncertain. supervisor elsbernd, you

mentioned the hotel tax revenues. there was $6 million assume from that. we are regarding that as uncertain until next week. we will see what happens. there are a few small items, as with the impound account and the cigarette lighter abatement fee which is still in litigation. -- the cigarette litter abatement fee which is still in litigation. chairperson avalos: there is a pending -- i will talk to you about it off line, actually. >> there have been questions about the rainy day reserve. i added a table that was not in the report to summarize how we get to the $33 million level. you can see here that at the start of last year we were looking at $98 million and the budget withdrew half of that, $49 million, for the city, and a quarter of the preschool district. that would have left $24.60

million. thanks to higher than anticipated year-end revenues, which rose so we could only withdraw $50 million, we did not withdraw $15 million we thought we would. we budgeted this year $6.10 million to the school district and $12.30 million to the city. according to current revenue projections, we are right at the withdrawal limit of the reserves. if we have exactly what is forecast, we will not be eligible to withdraw. we are assuming that $3.20 million will not be withdrawn from the reserves for next year. if in fact our revenues are reduced this year, then that would again allow for the trigger of withdrawal from the reserve in this year. if we have bad revenue news, the order would be that first you could withdraw up to the $12.30 million that was budgeted from

rainy day reserves, and if it was more than that, you could look at general reserves to cover that if there were not other measures to be taken. if you get bad expenditure news, that would not allow withdrawal from the rainy day fund, though the general fund could be used. finally, the bottom line from this is that the current year budget remains balanced as it is now, given these cautions. if the $30 million in uncertain revenues are received and there are no other major developments, the $25 million general fund remains intact and the rainy day fund is not needed. but as you well know, with the school year budget shortfall, it remains a major challenge. supervisor mirkarimi: that was slightly adjusted a few weeks ago. can you repeat the number again of the deficit? >> the's -- the controller's

office has not done a final projection. i prefer to leave that to the mayor's office if they would like to provide an updated number. supervisor mirkarimi: go ahead. >> through the chair, i think our current estimate is that the budget shortfall is s the neighborhood of $450 million. however, we have not finalized the budget deficit number for fiscal year 11-12 and will be revising that estimate over the last month. we cannot agree at the end of november or the beginning of december with budget instruction and a projected deficit. our hope is that the positive, slightly positive, revenue trends we are seeing in this report will carry forward into the budget year, and that might reduce the deficit somewhat, but i think we are still cautious

with the numbers. supervisor elsbernd: and the budget office and controller's office are aware of the demographic changes to the actuarial analysis that more than likely will take the employer cost higher? >> i think the short answer is yes. supervisor elsbernd: good, ok. chairperson avalos: mr. levenson, thank you very much. we can open this up for public comment. we will close public comment. this we will continue to the call of the chair without objection. and i believe that was our last item. we are adjourned.

i'm miss mendoza. >> [roll call] thank you. commissioner mendoza: if you would like, us for the pledge of allegiance. [pledge of allegiance]

thank you. i need a motion and a second. >> i move the adoption of the minutes. commissioner mendoza: roll call, please. >> [roll call] thank you. that's five aye's. commissioner mendoza: we're a littl punchy tonight. superintendent garcia? >> this evening, i would like to remind the public that this coming monday will be first furlough day for the entire school district. due to the cheapness of our

stake in the budget cuts, schools, child development centers and offices will be closed on monday. this includes all after-school programs. this is the first of four furlough days that will occur throughout the school year. these are not choices that we like making as we adopted the budget. our children should be the most important investment, and unfortunately, the state did not find this as a priority. it will reopen on tuesday, november 1 -- november 2. we like to encourage everyone to get out and vote. the next thing i would like everybody to know, many of us were invited to go to the thirtieth anniversary of the richmond district center. we would like to salute them for all of the work they have done

in the past. go, giants! [applause] let's go out and win the world series. commissioner mendoza: thank you, superintendent. recognition and resolutions of commendations. >> this is always the fun part of the meeting. reviews are really to distinguish great service. every day, we have the unsung heroes in the school district. we don't often enough to get a chance to highlight some of the great work that they do. this evening, we will be recognizing a couple of people. the first presenter i would like to come up is mary richards. >> thank you, superintendent.

my name is mary richards, i am the executive of the high school team. i would like to recognize her as a -- i have had the pleasure of working with her for the last three months and she is a wonderful person. i am going to accept the award for her. she could not make it. she was really happy and absolutely surprised. she could not believe she was being recognized. these awards really make a difference in our lives. it indulges them -- acknowledges them in important ways. i know this is an honor for her. i am privileged to accept it for her. maria is a bit better looking than i am, too.

commissioner mendoza: we appreciate your work. [applause] >> next, i would like to introduce the principle of the middle school. actually, i hate to embarrass her, but she is actually a newlywed. [applause] >> oh, ok. it is a pleasure to introduce one of the members of my team that is so well deserving of this rave special service award. he came to us as a security guard, and he is more than that. he is nominated for his mentor should, his role modeling, --

his mentorship, his role modeling, he established flag football and he takes kids out to lunch. he is right there with a walkie- talkie by the class rooms. he is a member of our community. i would like to introduce albert johnson. [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you. [laughter] thank you very much. i stand here tonight deeply honored to accept this award as i am thankful that my work is not in vain. i would like to make a positive impact, first on the children that i work with, and second on

the faculty. and you for nominating me for this award and for the support that the staff to provide to help get the job done every day. thank you very much. [applause] commissioner mendoza: thank you so much. item d is the student delegates report. >> during our last meeting yesterday, we received the presentation. she explained to us the rights of students when having an encounter with the police, and she gave the flyers to distribute and inform us how to handle a situation. we have the vice president and public relations officer, they

stepped down. our pr position has yet to be determined. >> we were reading over last year's resolution regarding bathroom policy. we talked about different things regarding the whole issue. we unanimously continued to support it. we also have the issue regarding the resolution for military recruitment. we have been reviewing and assisting the draft riding -- writing. commissioner mendoza: wonderful. thank you so much. our pac rep? hello, michelle.

>> good evening, commissioners and members of the public. i am a member of the parent advisory council and a parent of two public-school children. along with my fellow pac member, we will be presenting the report. congratulations to the folks that were honored this evening. as parents, we appreciate the wonderful work that everyone at the school does here at the district. and also, i wanted to reference the superintendent of the mention of the furlough days -- superintendent's mention of the furlough days. we tried to make the best of this really unfortunate budget

situation. what we will be discussing this evening, our main topics are the priorities for this year and strengthening communication between the pac and the board of ed. we had a meeting just recently, and we have been working on distilling what the priorities are for this year. we have a process for how we come to that. what we came away with or middle school assignments and redesign program placements. parent engagement around the school and the superintendent. of the change of transportation policy, and also, student nutrition. we also wanted to work on teacher admin quality in the after-school programs. implementing the parent engagement plan and issues

around special ed. a little detail of how we are looking at these. our vision being involved with the middle school project is not simply to come out with a pattern. we know that middle school is often the transition where we lose families, and we want to look at how to better engaged the communities, parents, students, and educators. and also, which programs we should have. that is all part of it. we understand these things are all closely connected. a round the school improvement grounds and the superintendent of zone -- zones, families would like to know more about what the plans are to engage the community. and the pac wants to know how we

can participate. there is a frustration that this has not been as transparent because there is not enough information out there. we would like to see more details. we have already been involved with meetings with the district staff. despite the fact that it is a difficult and complex process, there is no real win situation and people will lose services. i will turn it over. >> [speaking spanish]

>> i am the voice of the parents of the public schools and i want to talk to you about the concerns we have regarding the goal of social justice. and if it is really taking place in our schools. >> [speaking spanish] >> there are a lot of questions

regarding the changes and the effectiveness of the changes within the school. we are complying with those promises, and this is becoming a reality in our school. >> [speaking spanish] >> how is the work of the board of education reflecting and making those promises come true? how are you working on those schools to comply with what you have promised? >> [speaking spanish]

>> we would also like to know how can pac to work effectively on communicating with you and also bring you the voice of the parents? and also, any of your suggestions on how we can work on this communication process. >> [speaking spanish]

>> we had a meeting on august -- in august with rachel norton to see how we can continue working with the board of education. okay, so we can make the communication between the board of education and thus more effective. -- and us more