2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 LIBRARY CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Draft Minutes
Room 278 City Hall
San Francisco, California 94102
April 15, 2009
Chair Sue Cauthen called the meeting to order at 6:01 p.m.
Roll call: Present: Ted Bamberger, Sue Cauthen, Lucille Cuttler, Shanika Dismuke, Houston Garcia, Linda Guitron, Roger Kallen, Margaret Lee, Neil Mills, Clarice Moody, Michael Olinger, Janis Seeman, Gladys Soto
Absent: Braun, Skewes-Cox, Weaver, Warfield
Guests: Charles Moody, husband of member Clarice Moody, monitored the tape recorder and acted as timekeeper.
Minutes: Lucille Cuttler agreed to take the minutes. She was assisted by Margaret Lee.
Announcements:
Houston Garcia will distribute our flyer atSt. Ignatius College Preparatory.
Project Read Promotion Piece: Ted Bamberger distributed a Project Read promotion piece designed to encourage anyone seeking to improve their literacy skills to come for help.
Officer Reports:
The Telegraph Hill Dwellers has come out in opposition to building the North Beach library on the Triangle and is urging renovation of the existing library, an Appleton & Wolfard-designed building, which San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) plans to demolish.
There is also concern about demolition of the Ortega library, another Appleton library. The key neighborhood group, Sunset Parkside Education & Action Committee (SPEAK) intends to write a letter of opposition.
Budget Reform: Set-Asides & Other Strategies
Leo Levenson, Director of Budget/Analysis, Controller’s Office
Greg Wagner, Deputy Budget Director, Mayor’s Budget Office
Jay Manglicmot, Budget Director, SF Public Library (SFPL)
Chair Cauthen announced that the Mirkarimi office told her that Supervisor Mirkarimi’s set-aside legislation is dead. The proposal would have modified set-asides and permitted their reduction or elimination in times of economic crisis. SFPL’s set-aside entitles it to 2.5% of every $100 of property tax. The library’s set-aside has doubled its budget, which was $83 million in the 2008-09 fiscal year (FY 2008-09)
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION:
The budget must be completed by June 1, 2009, when it goes to the Board of Supervisors. With a shortfall nearing $500 million for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2009-10, which begins June 1), the mandated balancing of the budget is daunting. The invited budget officials helped to illuminate the budget crisis and particularly the impact on the library and other vital city services without a set-aside, such as health.
Mayor Newsom has called for 25% budget cuts from most city departments and $90 million in concessions from labor unions. This still leaves a $118 million shortfall and other reductions are necessary, including those from departments with set-aside funding.
Levenson said that reforming set-asides cannot solve the City’s budget gap alone as the fundamental issue is that wage/benefit costs have risen faster than inflation and cannot be supported by city revenue. He said the controller’s office is working with the supervisors on a charter amendment on budget reform.
Wagner said that after factoring in earmarked funding (i.e., baselines, set-asides and charter-mandated spending plus federal, state and local employee provisions), only about 40% of general fund revenues and 18.6% of the total budget is left for “discretionary spending.”
Put another way, only about 1.21 billion of the City’s $6.53 billion budget is available for discretionary spending.
An improved budget process would build some flexibility into budget priorities. This can be done by changing the set-aside formula so amounts can be adjusted and changing the percentage allocated to specific services. However, the mayor is opposed to across-the-board cuts. Wagner also said that communication between the mayor, the departments and the supervisors is desirable, noting that it has improved this year and that there are regular consultations with Supervisor Avalos, chair of the BOS Budget Committee.
Levenson said the Controller’s required three-year budget projection sees continued broad shortfalls: $615 million in FY 2010-11 and $746 million in FY 2011-12. To balance the budget it is therefore necessary to cut expenditures or find additional revenue.
Manglicmot said the library lost $4.2 million in property tax this year because of the financial situation. He said SFPL does not intend to cut library hours and basic services but is looking at reductions in professional services, data base and building maintenance, and “services that other departments do for us.”
He said trimming personnel is also a consideration and that would be accomplished by not filling vacancies. The library hoped to meet with the Mayor’s budget analyst next week to present its plan.
The library’s set-aside has made SFPL “one of the best systems in the US,” he said. However, it is necessary to spend 75% of the budget on labor, leaving 25% for operations and public services.
Two bond issues are enabling SFPL to upgrade branches and build several new ones, replacing sites that were rented and expanding the branches to 27, from 26. SFPL just sold $34 million in Prop D revenue bonds for work at six libraries that were defunded under the general obligation bond program. Prop D extended SFPL’s set-aside for 15 years and authorized its use to pay for the revenue bonds.
SFPL attempts to spend all available set-aside money as unused portions go back to the city’s General Fund.
Public Comment:
Katie Ambellan, Friends of the Library communications/advocacy associate, said library funding is imperative as library use increases during bad economic times. Passage of the SFPL set-aside extension (Prop D) showed that voters support libraries.
In response to LCAC questions, panelists noted that:
1. Though property tax, sales tax, the hotel tax and other revenues are down, voter approval of the planned charter amendment on budget reform could greatly ease fiscal problems. (Levenson)
2. The city does not do cost-benefit analyses in allocating funds but attempts to disburse funds according to needs. (Levenson) The city should be able to measure success by outcomes. At SFPL, for example, the city could measure visits and open hours, tying allocations to performance. (Wagner) The current performance measuring system is being refined to make it more effective. Library service could be benchmarked to that of other library systems. (Levenson)
3. Much needed redesign of the library website has not taken place because the revamping (by now nearly two years overdue) was time consuming. It was outsourced because the IT department is occupied with daily tasks. Anticipated grants for IT did not come through. (Manglicmot) Departments must justify contracting out and the controller’s office validates their cost analyses. (Levenson)
4. Stimulus money from Washington will aid the city’s fiscal problems through 2011 and children’s programs are one of the beneficiaries. (Levenson) However, it is not going to solve the deficit totally. Nonetheless the mayor has made acquisition of stimulus funds “our number one priority.” (Wagner)
5. While salaries not set-asides are the city’s biggest problem, set-aside reform is an important way to provide resources to address the broader concern: i.e., there is not enough money to cover expenses. (Wagner) SFPL expenditures are not a major part of the City’s budget, and reform should be quantitative, not across-the-board. It’s a trade off between cutting critical services, such as health care, and cutting the cost of providing services. The good news is that the city is nowhere near bankrupt. In fact, we are in better shape than many other cities. (Levenson)
Public Comment:
Katie Ambellan, Friends of the Library staff, said that outsourcing is beneficial as it enables SFPL employees to do the work that they are hired to do.
The meeting recessed from 7:57 PM to 8:06 PM.
Library CAC Flyer: Linda Guitron showed a redesigned outreach and promotion piece. In bookmark format, the piece states the purpose and meeting time and place of the LCAC. City librarian Herrera agreed to distribute the flyer in San Francisco’s libraries subject to the following word change: replace the word “concerns” with “ideas.’ Members agreed to the change and the heading will now read “Share Your Library Ideas.”
The message will appear on the reverse side of the bookmark in Chinese and Spanish. Margaret Lee and Houston Garcia will do the respective translations. The LCAC will consider the final version, as well as copying and distribution plans, at the May meeting.
Clarice Moody moved approval of the March minutes. Lucille Cuttler seconded the motion.
Yes: Bamberger, Cauthen, Cuttler, Dismuke, Garcia, Guitron, Kallen, Lee, Mills, Moody, Olinger, Seeman, Soto
The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m.
The next meeting is May 20, 2009, at 6 p.m. in Room 278 City Hall.
