-- it's very important for a new mayor to be able to hit the ground running and not have to take significant period of time if they want to try something different or -- or focus in a different way. so i don't know that it should have to come tom the board of supervisors for reallocating and uncomfortable with the controller and seeing that a full and prompt disclosure of what the expenses are. we're going o have a brand-new mayor and we need to have that mayor hit the ground running. >> thank you, supervisor. i would echo your comments. i this it's property to have that comment but if that's the will of this committee that we would allow the next mayor to have the flexibility to spend it. we still have an open item for next week. if i can is you mr. wagoner to follow-up on che members to follow up on that particular

plan. thank you. next department, ethics commission.

>> good afternoon, madam chair, supervisors, i appreciate the opportunity to be here. i just gave you a handout. it's kind of an update on the status of the election campaign fund. to this point this year we've been going on the asurpgs that there would be eight qualified candidates. in all likelihood that number is going to be nine. so we have some updated figures for you on that particular issue. i don't have a formal presentation. the budget analyst has no recommendations for the commission this year, a position with which we concur. and i'm happy to answer any questions that you might have. >> can you speak a little bit about what we're anticipating for next year and just walk us through you're expenses. one thing that i'm particular in knowing about is what's the current balance in your election campaign fund, what your drawdowns have been where you're expecting to be next

year. >> we expect spending with nine candidates a total of $8.1 million. but that's based on a few assumptions. the first is that each of the nine candidates will raise the maximum amount necessary which would mean an allocation of $900,000 to each of them. so far this year, we've expended about $1.7 million. there's money going out every day so that number will rise before the fiscal year. >> how much was expended this current year? >> as of friday just under 1.7 million. >> what's the anticipation? >> the seapings is that we could -- anticipation is that we could go as high as 3.1 this year. >> how much do you have in the fund? >> the amount that we have right now is that -- is three -- i do have that number right

in front of me. no. shoot. sorry. >> oh, wait. it's 7.4, it looks like. >> that's what we started out at the -- yes. and then if you subtract the total uses, the fiss cal year and balance -- fiscal year that we expect to be 3.3 million dollars. >> given the information you provide we started the year with $3.6. the budget included adding an additional $2 million. there was a repayment appropriation worth about half a million dollars and there was a supplement to appropriation -- >> right. >> so that brought us to 7.4.

so far there has been $1.7 million of that 7.4? >> well, yes. there's also an additional nearly million that was spent on last year's supervisor's race. so the total would be 2.7. >> yep. so 2.7 million drawn down a combination of the mayor's race and the board's race? >> right. >> ok. and then the budget for the upcoming year anticipates a deposit of how much? >> a total of -- approximately $6 million. just a little over $6 million.

the exact future is $6,9 -- $6,091332. >> so we expect the total to be $14.3 million for the campaign fund but we have drawn down about $2.7 million, you said? >> right. >> and then in terms of how much we expect to spend over time you said about $8.1 million asumping nine fully viable candidates all drawing down the maximum? >> right. >> supervisor wiener? >> do you -- i know you were here a few months ago with the

6-5 vote and i know at the time, there were -- you had projections about where we would be at the end of the fiscal year and then on ward. do you have any way of knowing as of now basically in the fiscal year whether we have spent more or less on the mayor's race than you projected. >> to date, we have spent less than projected but even though there's a very small window left in the fiscal year, there's money going out almost every day. we've come closer to that projection than before. but our overall projection for the race has increased. what we've had trouble -- the difficulty was in the balancing act, we have a total figure that agrees with what we think we're going to spend. how much of it do we put into this fiscal year vs. how much

for next fiscal year? >> your projection for the whole race, you understand i'm assuming being conservative -- are you assuming that every candidate will max out? >> yes, that's what the 8.1 figure is based on. >> as of now, how much under projection are we at? i know that it will accelerate as we approach june 30th. but how far under -- >> about a million and a half. >> do you have any sense at all about whether -- how far under we'll be as of june 30th? >> i still think that the 8.1 million figure is credible. before we were using 7.2 when we had figuratively one less

candidate. there's a wild card factor in here that doesn't show up in any of these calculations. the presumption that all five are all -- excuse me -- all nine candidates will max out is certainly plausible. they may do that. they may not. we don't flow for a fact and it's going be hard to figure out. but of the nine that we believe will qualify i think they all have the capability. and expenditures may change these numbers dramatically because of expenditure ceilings. so it could be a lot more. so the more third-party expenditures, they could be substantial. we could go through more than we anticipate. >> right. and i guess we won't know until july 31st or august 1st whenever the disclosure date is.

we'll have a sense of how much each of the fundraising is. i'll assume you'll know a lot more then. >> a great deal more. but even from the amendment that we've been distributing now, there are some candidates that are raising money. others are finding the resources but the financial report as you mentioned will give us a bigger picture. >> could you report back at least to give us more of a sense for whether you think we're going to see candidates maxing out by the end? >> of course. and in the public finance law itself, i'm required at the end of august i'm required to also issue an analysis. >> thank you. >> thank you, supervisor wiener. what would be helpful also for us to understand -- i know

we've had a dialogue about how much we expect the drawdowns to be for the mayor's race but the other thing that's funded with the fund is the board's race and so in the next fiscal year we're expecting about half a year before the 2012 june election for the board. i think if you can provide to the committee members just your expectation of spendsing for the board race as well -- >> $900,000. $9 00,000. included in this chart that i just gave you. >> ok. that's the -- that's the anticipated -- >> right. >> oh, ok. ok. even with fewer open seats we still expect $900,000 in spending? >> yes. >> do you think you can provide that information to us in the copping weeks? >> yeah. i'm sorry what -- >> just the breakdown for the assumption for the $900,000. >> yes. ok. >> and for the budget analyst report this item unfortunately

there is been some miscommunication. last year there was not a requirement for this department to be reported on. so for some misunderstanding that hasn't occurred this year. what i've asked the brudget is to take a look at the department etion budget to provide us with any recommendation between now and next week on the department budget. so if i could ask you to work with our budget analyst on providing that information to make sure that any recommendations are timely and then for us just to make sure we get the information on the $900,000 and what is expected to be drawndown. ok. thank you. then we'll go down to our final department, the department of elections. >> good afternoon. our budget is increasing this year due to there being one more election this next fiscal year than the current fiscal year. there's a decrease from reimbursement from elections, city college, so we won't be

receiving that for the upcoming fiscal year. as far as big ticket items the next five years, the voting system contract with our current vendor will need to be extended. i'll be coming to the board to seek an i approval -- for the current voting contract. i may actually seek to have it extended a bit since the last time it took almost three years from the time we started the r.f.p. process until the contract was approved. i'll be bringing that forward to the board. but also the leas for the department's warehouse will be expiring at 2014 as well. we would like to have that extended. that's also a secure location for the voting system that we have now than if we were to go to a different system in the fleer future. as far as our five-year plan, we were looking to continue

automating and digitizing as much of our process as we can. the reason is that -- there's less workload because you handle materials less but also what's more important in elections it allows for us to get realtime information on election material as we go through the process. we'll continue that through the next five years. one item that's described in the budget report is the scanning and sorting machine to the vote by mail ballots. that's one thing that's reduced the verification process in the vote by signatures and about -- also be able to capture that information and report more quickly. i can take any questions from the board members. >> thank you. just two questions with regard to the leas at the port, is

there any impact on the america 's cup? >> no, it's north. since we're in the southern side, there won't be any impact. >> and then with regard to the purchase i think the budget analyst has really highlighted the automated ballot machine, anything special there? any kind of new things that we're anticipating in the next five years? >> we also want to -- it sounds simple but it makes a big impact. the next thing you want to get is an automated mail extractor. so instead of having people bull the ballots, you actually have an equipment that can open the envelopes and bull them from the envelopes and we can process them more quickly. one thing with san francisco, we have multi-card ballots. one of the expenses we have for the june primary election is we expect probably six cards and

that just takes a long time to process that. and one of the bottom is to pull them from the envelopes. so we automate that. also the provisional ballot process, we're going to change the envelope size to we can use this equipment for the next fiscal year's budget so we can scan those envelopes and start handing those envelopes as we review them. we can actually -- we digitize it, we do a comparison and we can more quickly balance the budget. instead of waiting for the provisions to be processed. >> and just on the areapportion natment process this is that comes for a while. your budget includes $220,000 to complete that work. that work has to be done by april 2012 which is coming up quickly. could you speak about that fund? >> one of the primary things is

to get a consultant because the department doesn't actually do the redistricting that the task force does. but the task force members have never done redistricting that i'm aware of. i don't know who the board will choose and who the mayor will choose. so it's important to get that work and that will be $95,000. there is also some money built-in for outreach for the task force and also just to get the materials. and that also there's a halftime position in there that we are working with the clerk of the board's office for someone to staff the task force meetings. that was one of the challenges that the task force has and the department of elections is that there was no one assigned with the task force. another portion of the $20,000 is to actually appoint them to

the task force. >> you are in agreement including budget closeouts? >> i am. >> thank you. mr. rose? >> madam chair, members of committee, our recommended reductions, they're detailed on page 129 total 1 32,628 dollars. that's 100% general fund reductions still allow an increase of about $5.5 million or 56% in the department's budget. and we also recommend closing out your general fund unexpended incumbrances which would allow $375,000. so they result in $156,206 savings to the general fund. >> thank you, mr. rose. supervisor wiener?

>> thank you. first i want to -- and i meant this as an inquiry as well just to compliment your staff. during elections candidates are some of the most difficult people in the world to deal with and your staff amazingly are patient and helpful. i just wanted to note that. i have a question about something that we -- something that we talked about. but i don't know if it actually happened and that is any kind of movement towards electronic voting sig nag chur collection, things like that. i know there was an op-ed in "the chronicle" about that. i'm wondering because obviously that has significant cost implications and security implications as well. i'm just wondering if you envision any movement towards that in the for seeable future? >> i'll do the voting system first. we're finding out is that i think there will always be a

paper ballot but the system will digitize the information, scanning both sides of the ballot are somehow capture the information that's on the ballot, but not having to handle the actual card. that helps and also for people are involved in the campaign and the candidates and even for the public's interest. you can capture information and >> it more quickly. i don't think internet voting is going to happen any time soon. i think that would be a great idea if it's secure. i know that for soldiers overseas, there's a form of exchange of ballot information and receiving the voted ballots from the service members, but that's in a very limited sense and there's a -- so it's not much of a change as far as the regular process is concerned right now. with the digital signatures, i

think that's going to happen fairly quickly. but the challenge there is that everything's based on 100 years of process. it's not just the offices in california that want to handle the paper, but there are laws that's based on those hard copy petitions as well. so receiving something, a digital signature or receiving an additional petition, it's not that we wouldn't know what it is. we would handle it in a way that's consistent with current laws. it's the law that has to catch up with the idea especially with digitizing the petitions for election material. >> thank you, supervisor winer. >> this department is in agreement with the budget analyst, can we take the budget analyst recommendation and the project closeout without objection? >> great. thank you very much. >> ok. i think that we've exhausted

all the departments today. so colleagues we're finishing before 5:00 which is great. if we can, items number one through three -- sorry one and two, can we continue this -- these two items until wednesday? we'll do that without objection. for items numbers three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and 10, can we continue these items to the 24th for public comment? we could do that without objection. great. and then item number nine, which has to do with the human services agency, can we continue this item until the 23rd which is when the department budget will be up? we'll do that without objection. that's great. all right. mr. clerk, do we have any other items before us? >> second piece to the agenda. >> thank you very much.

we are adjourned.

>> cents and cisco's buses and trains serve many writers -- san francisco buses and trains serve many riders. the need to be sure they can get off at their intended stop. the digital voice announcement system, which announces upcoming stops, can help these low vision riders know where they are, but only if set properly.

>> it is a wonderful piece of technology, but in practice, it is a little bit more tricky. oftentimes, i find that the automatic announcement system is turned off or turned down so low that i'm unable to hear it, or it is turned up so high that the sound is distorted. >> most of the time, it does not ever seemed to be on. or is it is, it is a really quiet. occasionally, it is so loud that it is distorted. >> driver, may i have california st., please? >> no problem. >> whenever the announcement system does not work properly and a driver does not call out the stops, and i'm totally lost as to where i am. the announcement system calls out the stops, but to help the customer, i caught the destination, transfer points, and requested stops. and it is the law. >> i use the p a system to make

sure everyone on the bus here is my announcements. >> i have had both experiences with the loudness and the to stop for the announcements. you are never going to have it exactly balanced for every trip because your level of noise changes. the announcement system ranges from 1 to 10. 10 would be too loud, a little distorted. eight is a good number. not too loud, but loud enough for everyone to hear and understand what is going on. >> i think bus drivers might not be aware of the fact that if you let a visually impaired person off at the wrong stop, number one, they may be absolutely unfamiliar with the area they are in. >> the driver overshot the stock that i wanted. i decided to get off and find my way back, but it was very disorienting, not exactly understanding how far i was. number 2, it might be a

potentially dangerous situation if they do not know the area and are attempting to make crossings that they are unfamiliar with. >> they let me off somewhere else. i had no idea where i was. i missed the stop, and the bus was gone. then, i look around. i tried to find someone to help me, and i cannot find anybody. i would have no way of knowing where i am at. >> [inaudible] i asked why he did not stop when i asked. we did not panic. we do not know where we are. we do not know what is going on. i get over there, and right away, i almost got killed. >> #3, it's the person in question is trying to get somewhere, it is going to make them late for whatever they are

doing. >> i had to find my way to a corner and ask someone where i was going to and how to get there. i eventually made it to my appointment, which was with social security, but i was very late, and they almost did not see me. >> i was very late former doctor's appointment, and there was concern about whether or not i could be fit in. >> when i get off i stock that is unfamiliar to me, because i have no sight, i cannot just automatically orient myself off to a new environment. it takes a lot of training, a lot of work. there are a lot of skill sets involved when i am first introduced to a new area. to get off at an unfamiliar bus stop for the first time and to do it unintentionally -- it can be a really disorienting experience. >> i think there is a sense that it is ok, that person is going to find their way, and did they do not know where they are, you

are potentially putting them in a seriously dangerous situation. >> i always appreciate when the drivers are proactive in asking questions like, "where do you want to get off?" i appreciate when they help find a seat for me. i also appreciate when everything is working properly as far as the voice announcement system. they make sure that it is turned on, that it is loud enough for everyone to hear, not turned down so low that it helps no one. >> excuse me, driver, what stocks are we at? can you remind me when we get to venice and broadway? thanks. >> what we're talking about here is full participation and inclusion. i want to be able to lead a full life.