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DBI projects positive year-end fund balance as staff, systems and new legislation move forward
Summary
DBI staff told the Building Inspection Commission they project a positive fund balance and described revenue drivers (intergovernmental plan checks), staffing plans, a new permit-tracking RFP, and recently passed monitoring-fee legislation effective Aug. 16; commissioners requested conservative reserve planning and follow-up documentation.
Pamela Levin, DBI deputy director for administrative services, told the Building Inspection Commission on July 21 that the department expects to end the fiscal year with a positive fund balance after an estimated increase of about $3.49 million, bringing the operating fund to roughly $4.3 million from last year's $553,000.
"We continue to track to end the year with a positive fund balance," Levin said, and she noted that the department's projection includes about $1.35 million of additional charges for services, of which roughly $1 million is attributable to intergovernmental agreements (plan-review work with the Port, Transbay projects and PUC work). Levin also reported roughly $679,000 in refunds that reflect current-year payments for prior-year plans.
Levin cautioned the figures are preliminary until the city's accounting close in September and emphasized the need to hold reserves for emergencies. She said the department will pursue filling several vacant positions and can use temporary staff in the near term to restore counter operations.
Director Vivian Day told commissioners the department's monitoring-fee legislation had been approved at the Board level and would become effective on Aug. 16, changing how some enforcement fees are collected. Day also said she had submitted, at the mayor's request, a memo seeking a June 2011 charter amendment to rename DBI the "Department of Building Safety" to reflect a more service-oriented posture.
Day outlined an RFP timetable for a new core permit-tracking (private tracking) system: DBI will lead the core system, supply hardware and licensing paid through existing permit technology fees, and aims to issue the RFP and take bids before the end of the year. She also reported progress on facility consolidation (a fourth-floor remodel to move the records department to 1660 and reduce rent) and noted the development impact fee deferral program began July 1 and already had 30+ applications totaling roughly $2.5 million in valuation.
Commissioners thanked staff for the work and asked for more granular fiscal detail on deferred credits, appeals, and the composition of the projected revenues; staff committed to deliver updated figures and to monitor the fund-balance position going into the fiscal close.
