DBI reports steady finances, permit-tracking tests and clarifies $52 monitoring‑fee shortfall

Gail Revels, acting chief financial officer, told the commission the department’s revenues and expenses are tracking as expected for the fiscal year (about 33% through the year), with charges for services slightly higher than last year and capital-project timing accounting for expense differences.

On the permitting front Hemani Kanti reported user acceptance testing for the new permit and project tracking system has begun; DBI has logged small- and medium-sized issues that staff and vendor teams are addressing and plans citizen-advisory hands-on testing in mid‑December and staff training in March 2014.

Deputy Director David Lowery reviewed implementation and collection challenges for the $52 monthly monitoring fee assessed under the SF Building Code Fee Schedule. Lowery said DBI is charging the fee across relevant divisions but that ambiguous ordinance language has complicated collection practice; the City Attorney is reviewing the ordinance language. After removing cases that were unsafe-hazard incidents that should not carry the monitoring charge, staff re-calculated uncollected monitoring fees at $625,113 across building, electrical, plumbing and code-enforcement cases for 08/23/2010–2013. Commissioners asked staff to prepare public information explaining incentives for prompt compliance and to return with code or information-sheet options to encourage faster resolution.

DBI also highlighted operational improvements in code enforcement: new inspectors increased inspection capacity, and staff reported high response rates (e.g., 96% within 48 hours for inspections reported during the period).