change. i want to just speak about-we spoke about the outstanding case loads in the office and how we expect to be somewhere in the range of having 14 thousand outstanding cases by the end of the fissile deyear. i want make the point that is not the norm. if you take a look otoert counties across the state of california, many or offices don't have this high level of assessment back log. we know that isn't the place we want to be and know that isn't the place san francisco should deserve in terms of quick and timely assessment. one thing that campicates san francisco picture is the facktd we are a unique and great city. #234r reason we love san francisco it also creates complexity in how we do our work. if you can imagine we have more interesting buildsings and a lrj share of commercial buildsings different flaumthe counter

part organizations. this is interesting slides for a number of reezb. it shows how complex or work is. if you lookt the blew rrb square in the bar charts san francisco share of single family homes what people say is easy to value, but there are complexities there as well, we have 48 percent of the properties being single families homes. compared to the peer counties that have over 66 percent single families home. san francisco has a higher number of multifamilies units, compodeed with san francisco and residence have been creative in how we use property, we use tic to be able to afford praurnts much more prevalent than other counies, that also comicates the multifamily picture. in addition we have a higher

pirtage share of commercial i industrial space. there are not good compareable sales in the market place to mark our values, so what happenicize our office takes a look at a lot of data and have to do more research on income generated by the assets and the cap rates and do analysis that is unique and different for our commercial and industrial properties. so, what is our approach and what do with all this information? i think our approach is pretty simple. we came to you last year with the same approach which is take the long view and get back to the fundamentals. we want to make investment that do good work in the long run. we are finally hiring into those position squz make sure they are put to work to work on

the back log. there is also critical investment in the administrative function that serve as the backbone for the organization. we asked for continuance orphthe [inaudible] and resource tooz address the capac tee manage. these investments have paid off and want to show in the ways it has mpt our office was able to fill 36 positions in the fiscal year, that is about 25 percent of the work force. that is no small #2350e9 rr for a organization. we filled 80 percent of the organizations funded in the budget. a know a critdicism orphour auchs and others in the past is we give you positions but don't fill them. frankly i think we made incredible progress to hire in into those positions because of the hr and adminl strative funchgzs you were able to address in the laest year. wie have it staff to support the organization and have also

hired finance staff to support the work of contracting and other things we need to run the operation smoothly. the next 4 items are frankly things that really help to improve what it is we are doing for the taxpayers mpt we were able through your help in terms of the assessment appeals team to be able to reduce the pending wait for appeals to be heard. that is significant to the taxpayer squz city. we expanded city recording of the key documentsism more than 60 percent of the 200 thousand plus documents now come in electronly. we no longer have to scan them and mail them to the owners. we also have e filing work flow for the business property statements. rather than receiving applications and having to key this information into the system by hand we have a automated way of having what is directly submitted on line transfer into the system.

we launched a website to expand the taxpayers understanding of the office and have the resources to nishiate the preserveivation and conversion of 205 thousand property files that don't have any other backup. in terms of what we are asking for this year boils down to a few things t. is the same strategy to inves in the long term and what makes the organization stronger. we are asking number 1, for flexibility. being able to restructure the organization to respond to the all real estate market. we talked about the impact of the down turn of the market and increase of appeals, however we are also similarly impacted by the surge of new construction activity happening noumpt rathder than pigeon holing the office to only dedicate staff to 1 purpose squu sissment we ask for the city to be flexible to have it staff to work on

assessment appeal squz new construction as we see the surge in construction continue. number tworks we are continuing to invest in our people. we are creating number un, a path way to staff to grow prfessionally that introduce the training program that helps the clerical staff to train for auditor position. this helps create a career ladder for individuals to stay in the office. we want to inivist in training. property tax law is not easy so we want to make sure we are up to date with the training required to do our job. fooinally, we are investing in our data. as you know the data is only as good as you put in the system so we want to take a look of the property cairbtistics and make sure they rup dated as much as possible. fine el, we want to continue to support our administrative functions so we are stable to do the

apperations we need to. one area want to point your attention to is this picture, it is a picture of what is your fwo billion dollar property tax system. it is a screen shot of oo old green screen computer based in col bault based language no longer taught in the school and that is the backbone of the property tax system. our budget is actually making a investment in something we call, no longer kicking the can down the road. we have requested and received funding for 360 thousand dollar to be able to move forward on real statanies and solution for this system what to do moving forward. there are a comal things that are a problem. if you look that screen it isn't completely user friendsly. amadgeen file upon file of this same screen filed one after aort, dependent on parcel and date and that is xhaut had the

system looks like. if you want to know the sequence of events happening you can't do it with 10 or 20 pages. if you want to find specific information you have to yeas these things. below is a menu, change in ownership, 2, change in ownership, function 3, [inaudible] something we want to change and improve given we have so much of the cities revenue riding on it. we don't want to see the system fail and this is a initiative shared by our aufsh as well as the controllers auchs as well as the tax collectors office. i should note the quoit committee identified this project as the top 3 #23r the city right after the replacement of the financial system and after the public safety radio project, so we

truly are moving this project forward and trying to find long term solution where what wie do with this system. transitioning and want to indicate rks we respect the budget analyst report, we do want to make sure we take a moment to clarify what the changes are in our budget. i'll say wree not in agreement with the report and the recommended reduction. this is a quick smapshot of the ft rks changes inl our department. if you take a look at the changes to fiscal year queen, 16 and 16, 17, it looks we are gaining 18 new positions. i want to break that down because it is poncht to kis tinguish where that comes from. 7.6 are new positions in the budget, positions we didn't have before. 5 positions are actually included from last years as you recall in the midyear cycle we accepted a grant from the state to hire

new positions so this is truly the budget chewing up those 5 position put in the budget midway through. 4 of the positions are ree assignment tooz a on budget. they were actually off budget position funded last years budget but moving on budget so it reflects and looks as if we are increasing by 4, but they are reassignment for off budget positions. there is 2.07 positions related to simp lal annualizing what was added the year before. here is also just a quick summary for you in terms of general fund support coming to our organization. you know, there are a few things that drive it-the increases to revenue in term thofz level of transfer tax, property tax coming in, it doesn't ever reflect in the budget. it is budgeted in the different parlt thofe cities overall

picture. however, there is-we do have a few other revenues in the budget that help to increase or bring down the general fund support. if you take a look the changes from 18, 15 are about 600 thousand dollars in general fund chaimpgs. our expenses have gone up about 700 thousand and recovered 100 thousand dollars to offset it. one sthof largest pieces of the budget is trully a revenue back fill because of reduction in the fees we anticipate next year. a few places happened in the market place, as you know we have fewerer recorded documents than we had previously. it is a reflection of a few things, one the fact there are fewer banks who are now recording thijs like reconveyance because simply fewer people refinances fwhau interest rate environment is low. more people are paying all cash for their property and

so fewer bank leans and loanerize recorded on properties, so these are a reflection of why we see drop off in recorder revenue. this is something we sooseen coming and reflecting the fact the revenues are dropping and can no longer support the level of operation we have. in a net shell, 40 percent is really just back fill thg recorder fees that dropped off. 37 percent of the 600 thousand is simply because we saw annualized position squz the city had overall wage and benefit increases that helped drive it and really only 23 percent are new investments in the organization. i would say this is a relatively modest increase for the type of benefit we bring to the city. with that we are happy to answer question. i want to take a moment to thank my staff for the hard work many

who are working at this moment to [inaudible] deliver revenue aurmd in your budget >> thank you [inaudible] supervisor yee >> thank you. madam [inaudible] recorder chew. just a quick question, in regards to the the caizs utalk about, i see there are decreases in 2 categories and increases in the development , i believe. i just-can you talk a little about the complexity of the type of cases and also whether or not as we are projecting a plsh down turn on the economy and whether or not those construction cases will go down or not and would it

become a reassessment [inaudible] or assessment [inaudible] will go up? >> that you can for visor for the question. if i understand the question, a few things, you asked me to explain the complexy of the different categories and assessments we do. chaimpgs in ownership, clearly these are instances where people buy and sell property. we see a number of large transactions happening whether it is purchase and sale of hotels or large commercial biltdsings that drive thiz transfer tax value. any time you have those kinds of properties transacting in the market place the work is more complx. if you take a look at-let's just say that 555 california is selling, there is no like comperable building selling in the market around the same time, so the way our office proceeds with that valuing

of that property is work with the property owner to understand whault their income stream will look like, to understand the expenses they incur and understand what the market places acceptable cap rate or rate of investment rorn is on the property. in termoffs compeace we see complexity in the types of ownership driving the eon caem. new construction, taking a look at what is developed across the city isn't easy. wree see properties developed sometimes on redevelopment land that has a number of different factors associated with it including remediation and other things more complex. we are also seeing that market place isn't building single family homes. they are building complex and mixed use that have not

only the residential compoint and retail and office space component associate would it. [inaudible] our new construction work is also i think scaling towards the more complex compared to where we may have been years ago. assessment appeals cases, we are glad we are seeing the number come down. wlee are not seeing as much single family homes appeal, their value than in the past but we still see commercial property appealing. if you have single parcels splitting it will be more complex and more work than in the past. that speak tooz the complexy of the different categories. i think your other question is how we make the swings in the eon caem. the way the

rmt code work squz californias property 13 works we have to value the property at the time of sale. if a property is being purchased at a time when the real estate market is hot and the prices are high, we have to value at that level. we caept value at a lower level anticipated we need to weather the storm, we have to value at the value the market requires as of that time. same scenario in 2008 when the market crashed we saw a ton of properties that lost value. in bay views and hunters point and excelural wu see single family homes lose value and had to grant temporary reduction and increased ringe. it is a complex picture and married with the market conditions >> just part of why i ask is

when i look at the line graph that you put with the red line and green line >> yep >> i was just kierious in terms of the thinking behind it because the complexity of these cases is a big factor and the type of cases you get changes the complexity >> sloutly. how do you account for it >> there is also that difference >> that is a fantastic question, thank you for asking it. the level of complexity is smck we need to take into account when we ask fl types of position. we may ask for more senior appraisers as opposed to entry level appraiser tooz deal with the chemeplex property we see. that may be something we ask for going down the line. the line you are talking about in terms of the-this slide here,-can you

see it? yeah. the shride you are seeing here is actually not even take into account the complex osthf work. it says if we assume how productive we are now and assume the last 3 years achberage in terms of new cases coming in, here is where we be if we had the stots quo budget or the budget we request td. you are asking a great question. this is saying giving the assumption about the level of work coming in and where we expect the office to be able to produce, this is where we think we'll be. in terms of the complxly question, we are going to take more time on a normal case than we have now because they are more complex properties and think that

will influence the position in terms of the types of positions we ask going forward >> thank you >> any further questions? supervisor tang >> thank you. i do appreciate the long term view that you have taken with the department budget. one question is regardsing the appeals. i know that portion comes out och inboards budget and we added a new team i think in the last budget process so wonder how that is going and if there is thought in the future adding teams for assessment appeals >> thank you for that question. as you know supervisor the assessment appeals board is a division of the san francisco board of supervisors. in some of the other counties the board actually hears assessment appeals caizs but in san francisco you delegated that responsibility to your appointed board members. we over the past year worked with your clerk of the board to be able to seat additional positions and board members

to hear cases so we seated a third board. something i urge you to do as you see applicants come in is pay attention to whether they are reflective and fair of the asetssment process. that is what we all want is a fair hearing at the board. i think we may progress of working down the cases in assessment appeals world. remember the investment made last year was for residential property so it wasn't for had more complex commercial properties, it was really to speed tup for the single family home squz the more simple taxpayer items. i think we have done a good job of working those cases down. i think where our office is the board clerk has been working is to say how is it that we can potentially speed it up even further? are there opportunities on the assessment appeals side to

be able to schedule more hearing that allows us to get through them faster because wree at the mercy of the scheduling. we are in conversation how we can reconcile those cases and schedule more faster and think that continues to be a point. we need additional space to hear it and resources within your budget to hear the cases more quickly. i think there are opportunities to make improvement to how the appealerize done. there is the opportunity to schedule more and want to do that because twee have the resource tooz represent our office in that regard and hope that the board will take a interest in making sure that does happen. >> colleagues any further question snz okay. thank you for being here. do you want to quickly comment?

>> yes, mr. chairman and members of committee, on page of the report we report or recommended reductions total 483 [inaudible] of that amount the recommended reduction are on going savings and still allow a increase of 663, 197 dollars or 2.8 percent of the department fiscal year budget. our recommended reduction total [inaudible] of that amount of on going savings we are still in disagreement and will report our findings back next week to you >> thank you very much mr. rose. any questions for had budget analyst. okay, thank you very much. up next we have civil service commission. #w50e8 rr take

a half hour break at 12:30. who ever started then we'll finish your item and break. hopefully we can get [inaudible] before the city attorneys office. we'll take a half hour break [inaudible] >> good afternoon, now supervisor. my name is michael brown and executive office for civil service commission. i want to give a brief overview and talk about our goals and objectives and give a high level view of what the budget request is for the next 2 fiscal year. for the chart [inaudible] charged of providing quality persons for it the sitdy and county of san francisco. [inaudible] the mission is to establish insure and

maintain a equitable and [inaudible] for the citizens of san francisco. the commissions goal is to provide the best qualified can dts. it is the ghole in policy of commission to provide fair treatment of applicants without regard to membership in a category and to [inaudible] nepotism or favoritism. [inaudible] they are appointed by the mayor and reviewed by the board of supervisors and they are required to be sworn with the special statement of not opposing the civil service appointment for political activity. we usual have meet ongz the first and third monday. it is a small staff of 6 employees for the civil service commission itself. the commissions authority and responsibility of the

[inaudible] include but not limited to the purpose definition administration and organization of the system and civil service commission. the establishment of policy procedure and rules [inaudible] discrimination applicants [inaudible] the charter empoers to undertake reviews and conduct of [inaudible] oversight includes inspection service and also have general power to conduct system audit program. we hold appeals and hearings-we have hearings on appeal and there are over

system issues. we review proposed personal service contracts that are-instead of using city employees we review the purpose and those service contracts. we aprieve the wage and benefit responsibility for the city for city official squz also for prevailing wage certification. we also manage employee relation ordinance administration. i want to go thoferb sknauls priorities for fiscal year 2015, 16. we want to increase the access and utilization of resources, creative transparency in procedures and communication, insure timely resolution of appeals so issues are addressed fishly effectively

and fairly. continue to address sitdy department needs for personal management while maintaining the cities system. streamline and insure the xhirgzs rules policy and preerjt are understood by all steak holders consistent and compliant with the department. continue to [inaudible] tublt meet the man dates and oversee the operation of the system. as you can see the civil service request for fiscal year for 2015, 16, and 16 17 is [inaudible] increase in commission budget over the next 2 years are primarily used to projected increase in employee sl razz for the cities labor organization agreement, projected increase in benefit cost and renewal of copier agreement with

umgrade to handle large scale projects. finally, continue to work the city attorneys office for needed legal advice. no changewise the changes over the next 2 years and no projected overtime cost over the next 2 weirs. we are in agreement with the budget analyst request submitted to you. if there are any questions wree reedy to take them now >> thank you very much. any questions? okay, thanks very much. you are one of the departments off the hook from the budget analyst so congrats on advance. appreciate you being here. up next we have the controllers office. ben rosen field. in the mean time madam clerk can you call item 6-9, please? >> item number 6, resolution

concurring with controllers establishment of consumer price index for 2015 and [inaudible] item 7, ordinance adopting the neighborhood location and graffiti clean up tax [inaudible] tax year 2015. item number 8, resolution designateing the city and county of san francisco [inaudible] item 9, resolution concurring with the controllers certification that services previously approved can be performed by contractors [inaudible] >> thank you. acolleagues when we are done dw the controllers aufs i would like to make a motion to approve the items and send them to the june 24 budget meeting. continuing to the that date which sth first date and hopefully will succeed in passing out the budget. mr. controller >> good afternoon, ben