HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO Minutes of Commission Meeting Wednesday, December 03, 2008
440 Turk Street San Francisco, California
A Regular meeting of the Housing Authority Commission of the City and County of San Francisco met at 440 Turk Street, San Francisco, California, on Wednesday, December 03, 2008, at 4:00 p.m. President A. Brown called the meeting to order at 4:01 p.m. 1.
ROLL CALL PRESENT:
Rev. Amos Brown, President Neola Gans, Vice President Jane Hsu, Commissioner George R. Brown, Commissioner Dwayne Jones, Commissioner Matthew Schwartz, Commissioner(arrived at 4:08pm)
NOT PRESENT:
Millard Larkin, Commissioner
A quorum was present. ALSO PRESENT: 2.
Mr. Henry A. Alvarez III, Executive Director Mr. Roger Crawford, Assistant General Counsel
APPROVAL OF AGENDA Commissioner Jones motioned to accept the agenda. Commissioner Gans seconded the motion. This request was approved unanimously.
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GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS/ REPORT OF SECRETARY Henry Alvarez, Executive Director, reported that there were no General Communications or Report of the Secretary.
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COMMITTEE REPORTS There were no Committee Reports.
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REPORT OF GENERAL COUNSEL
Commission Meeting Minutes December 11, 2008 Page 2 Roger Crawford informed the Commission that there was no need for a Closed Session unless otherwise noted by the Commissioners. 6.
TENANT REPRESENTATIVE REPORT Williams Vitale, President of City Wide Council- Senior Disabled reported on the Resident Custodian issue. Lavelle Shaw, Vice- President of the Tenants Association, informed the Commissioners that the PHTA had a meeting with Hope SF Leadership Academy as well as a discussion regarding the MOU with the SFHA.
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PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS There were no public Comments on Agenda items.
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS There was no unfinished business.
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NEW BUSINESS A) ACTION ITEMS 1) RESOLUTION CERTIFYING THAT THE SAN FRANCISCO
HOUSING AUTHORITY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS HAS APPROVED THE OPERATING BUDGET FOR ALL PROJECTS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR OCTOBER 1, 2008 TO SEPTEMBER 30, 2009; AND TO AUTHORIZE THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO IMPLEMENT PROPOSED BUDGET AND BUDGET BALANCING STRATEGIES AS OF DECEMBER 3, 2008 Cheryl Taylor, Administrator of Finance presented this Resolution. She informed the Commissioners that the San Francisco Housing Authority FY 2009
Departmental Budget Request yields an operating deficit of $10.0 million. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires that housing authorities adopt balanced budgets. The Finance Department cannot recommend Board approval of the FY 2009 Departmental Budget Request as it stands. Instead, in consultation with the Executive Director, staff recommends addressing the deficit by implementing reductions in force and other budget balancing strategies. The attached resolution requests that the Board adopt the FY 2009 Proposed Budget and instruct the Executive Director to implement proposed budget balancing strategies (presented below) as of December 11, 2008. If approved, the proposed reductions in force would be implemented as of February 13, 2009.
Commission Meeting Minutes December 11, 2008 Page 3 The objective of this resolution is to provide an approved budget to HUD and to implement proposed budget balancing strategies. This resolution will satisfy HUD’s requirement to submit HUD Form 52574 – PHA Board Resolution indicating that the FY 2009 budget for all projects had been approved by the Board of Commissioners. In the FY 2009 Departmental Budget Request, the Authority anticipated receiving 81 percent of its formula need of the public housing operating subsidy. In other words, for each $1 of need requested by housing authorities, HUD is expected to provide subsidy revenues of just 81 cents. The FY 2009 Departmental Budget Request includes combined salaries and employee benefits of $38.3 million. Salaries include cost of living adjustments (COLAs) totaling $0.5 million. Local 1021 (790), MEA, Laborers and Custodians received COLAs of 2 percent, while Painters received a COLA for 3 percent, per their negotiated labor agreements. Benefits account for nearly 30 percent of total personnel expense. Health, dental, vision and life insurance are covered for administrative staff according to the table below. Additionally, administrative staff benefits also include the full portion of the Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) Pension contribution. SFHA pays lump sum benefits directly to the craft workers’ unions. For both administrative and crafts staff, benefits also include the state and federally-mandated employment taxes and workers’ compensation coverage paid by SFHA. Staff proposes revenue enhancements totaling $6.5 million to partially close the budget gap which will include increase in Public Housing Operating Subsidy Final Proration, 2008, expected increase in Public Housing Operating Subsidy Initial Proration, 2009, use of Management Improvement Allocation from Capital Fund Program (CFP), expense reductions including reduce administrative staff, reduce crafts personnel, add 30 new administrative staff, reduce protective services expense, reduce waste management expense (included in Maintenance Contracts). The Authority has calculated the eligible public housing operating subsidy and identified all sources of income, including Section 8 Administrative Fees, Capital Fund Program funding, and dwelling rental revenue. Projected uses of income have been allocated across the appropriate line item expenditures and program areas, yielding a balanced budget. The overall contribution to reserves is $1.6 million, reflecting a restricted surplus in HOPE VI (component units) of $0.8 million and an unrestricted surplus in the Central Office Cost Center (COCC) of $0.7 million. HUD Form 52574 requires that the Board Chairperson certify that certain conditions are in place. Failure to submit the Board of Commissioners’ certification before the Operating Budget has been approved could cause suspension and/or loss of operating subsidy payments to the Authority for CY 2009.
Commission Meeting Minutes December 11, 2008 Page 4
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PUBLIC COMMENTS ON ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA There were two Public Comments: Donald Jones, Local 261 Laborers Union John Dorsey, 1880 Pine Demetria Page, Vice-President Valencia Gardens
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COMMISSIONERS COMMENTS AND REPORT President Brown made a comment that everyone read a book entitled, “ Crazy for God” by Frank Shieffer which outlines events that have effected American policies.
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CLOSED SESSION There was no closed session
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ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Commission, President A. Brown adjourned the Commission Meeting of December 11, 2008, at 5:05 p.m.
Henry A. Alvarez III, Secretary/ Executive Director
Rev. Amos Brown, President