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Committee prioritizes audits on advertising revenues, MOUs and assessor backlog
Summary
The committee directed the Budget & Legislative Analyst to prioritize a narrowed advertising audit of current contracts, a revised MOU review coordinated with DHR, and a limited assessor backlog follow-up for the remaining ~1,000 work hours this calendar year.
The Government Audit & Oversight Committee on Oct. 14 prioritized the Budget & Legislative Analyst’s remaining audit hours for the balance of 2010 and early 2011, centering on advertising revenues, a targeted review of memoranda of understanding and a follow-up on the assessor’s backlog.
Severn Campbell of the Budget & Legislative Analyst office laid out detailed work plans for several projects. She proposed a 440-hour review of the city’s advertising policies and revenues on public property — including naming-rights agreements such as Bill Graham and Candlestick Park — and said the office would coordinate with the Controller’s planned audit of the MTA’s Clear Channel contract to avoid duplication. She also proposed a narrowly scoped follow-up of the assessor’s backlog to evaluate whether positions funded in the 2010 budget were hired and reduced the backlog, and a comprehensive review of the city’s 33 MOUs to examine premium-pay practices, tuition reimbursement and other MOU-set-aside funds.
Ben Rosenfield, the controller, said many labor contracts set aside funds for professional development and gave Local 21 as an example, where the contract requires an annual $250,000 set-aside for tuition reimbursement. Rosenfield and DHR staff warned supervisors that most MOUs do not reopen until mid-2012, so findings intended to inform bargaining should be timed to remain useful.
Public comment included a request from resident Douglas Shep for a follow-up financial audit of San Francisco General Hospital (referencing a 2003 audit and bond spending), which the committee acknowledged but did not prioritize over the revenue-focused projects.
Supervisors Carmen Chu and Sophie Maxwell recommended narrowing the advertising review to current contracts and collections data, directing the Budget & Legislative Analyst to work with DHR to refine the MOU scope to be useful for future negotiations, and limiting the assessor project to implementation of prior audit recommendations. The committee agreed without objection and directed the clerk to prepare a motion describing those priorities for the Board.
The committee estimated roughly 1,000 audit hours remain for the calendar year; the prioritized projects are expected to fit those hours if scopes are narrowed as directed. The Budget & Legislative Analyst and Controller will coordinate scope and timing and return with formal motions and reports for the Board’s agenda.
