TAX NEWS - March 2009

California tax: Most Board of Equalization Employees Back to Work

Alternate Worksites Located

SACRAMENTO -- All but approximately 40 of the 275 Board of Equalization (BOE) employees placed on Administrative Time Off this past week due to a water intrusion event affecting the 8th and 9th floors of their headquarters building in downtown Sacramento are back to work. They have been placed in alternate work stations or are telecommuting.

The 450 N Street building has a history of water intrusion that began many years ago due to window leaks of the building's glass curtain wall when the seals failed prematurely, leaks caused by the 23rd floor balcony seam failure, and many broken pipes and water overflows.

The 22nd, 23rd and 24th floors have been closed since late September of 2007 so the health and safety of BOE employees could be assured while the building's owner, DGS, could investigate and remediate those floors. Employees from those floors were relocated inside and outside of the headquarters building, and have been dislocated ever since. The agency's five-member Board has heard from employees regarding building related issues numerous times. Most recently, at its public meeting in February, the Board directed staff to explore alternative work spaces for BOE employees.

Department of General Services (DGS), the building's owner responsible for its maintenance, has worked to remediate the upper floors since late 2007. HTI has continued to monitor their work and the work of DGS' hired consultants. While DGS claims to have completed the work on the top three floors, BOE management will not place employees back into that space until it has assurances that general US Environmental Protection Agency guidelines for mold remediation are met.

BOE has requested a comprehensive report from DGS stating the source of the water intrusion, what was found and how it was addressed to meet the US EPA guidelines. DGS is not complying with this request. BOE staff and consultants are working to piece together the necessary information so that management can answer all staff's questions prior to returning to the affected floors, and so additional necessary information can be requested of DGS.

With the recent closure of the 8th and 9th floors of the 450 N Street building, a total of six floors are currently unoccupied. In addition to the top three floors, the 11th floor is also closed due to a chiller water supply line break in the area above the ceiling of that floor in March of 2008.

"We are over capacity in our headquarters building, even with access to all 24 floors," said Betty T. Yee, Chairwoman of the Board of Equalization. "At our February meeting the Board directed staff to find space for 500 employees at an alternate location immediately, and to ultimately find space with the potential to accommodate all our headquarters employees." BOE is currently working with the Department of General Services to find a location that can ultimately house all BOE headquarters employees.

The five-member California State Board of Equalization is a publicly elected tax board. The BOE collects more than $53 billion annually in taxes and fees supporting state and local government services. It hears business tax appeals, acts as the appellate body for franchise and personal income tax appeals, and serves a significant role in the assessment and administration of property taxes.