Budget and Finance Committee advances leases, grants and energy financing; elections contract extensions approved

San Francisco’s Budget and Finance Committee on Nov. 2011 on Wednesday advanced a string of administrative resolutions covering airport leases, housing grants, public-health funding, renewable-energy borrowing and a contract-extension for the city’s voting system.

Chair Carmen Chewy opened the meeting and the panel heard brief presentations and budget-analyst recommendations on each item before moving them forward, typically without roll-call votes.

On the airport item, Kathy Weidner of San Francisco Airport said the airport seeks approval of a 9-year, 7-month lease with Swiss International Airlines under the city’s standard lease-and-use agreement; Weidner said the airport anticipates approximately $32,696,000 in revenue over the term. The budget analyst noted Swissair is currently on a month-to-month permit and that this action would convert that permit into a long-term lease.

Monique Smuta of the comptroller’s office presented the city’s annual calculation of the Gann appropriation limit, saying the computed limit is $527,002,000 and that current appropriations fall roughly $287,000,000 below that total; a member of the public, Douglas Yip, registered opposition to the resolution on political grounds, and the committee moved the resolution forward with recommendation.

The Mayor’s Office of Housing asked permission to apply for up to $1.5 million from the state CalHome program to support mortgage-assistance and home-rehabilitation loans. Bridal Chu said the request would seek the maximum award and proposed splitting funds roughly $750,000 for home rehab and $750,000 for mortgage assistance; she said the application would serve about 19 households with mortgage assistance and about 13 households for home rehab, with individual assistance amounts described in staff remarks.

Dr. Bhatia of the Department of Public Health described a retroactive Centers for Disease Control grant of $167,061 to continue the city’s health-impact-assessment work, citing planned uses in air-quality and pedestrian-safety planning. Public comment on that resolution was supportive.

The committee also approved a measure authorizing two tax-advantaged borrowings to fund renewable and energy-conservation projects — a qualified energy conservation bond and a clean renewable energy bond, together totaling about $14.9 million — to back solar, in-line hydro and other green features. Todd Reeds of the SFPUC said the projects include rooftop solar at City Hall and other municipal facilities and an in-line hydro project; the budget analyst provided 16-year debt-service estimates.

The committee exercised the budget analyst’s recommendation to approve the first alternative on the Department of Elections item to exercise two one-year options in the city’s Dominion Voting Systems contract (an additional, analyst-estimated cost of $2,264,800). John Arnds said the city owns the equipment, purchased in 2008 for about $9 million, and that Dominion currently provides the only certified ranked-choice-voting solution compatible with the city’s system.

Several items were moved forward “with recommendation” without objection; the PUC’s proposed amendment to a Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) contract to secure supplemental power for Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island was continued so staff could return with an amended not-to-exceed amount and related ordinance changes.

Next procedural steps: items advanced by committee will appear on the full Board of Supervisors agenda on Nov. 22, 2011; the Treasure Island WAPA amendment was continued to the next Budget and Finance meeting for a revised not-to-exceed amount.