The fine marks the first time the board has issued a financial penalty in its two-year history, its executive director, J. Shane Creamer Jr., said yesterday.

The payment, made Feb. 22, was disclosed at yesterday's monthly board meeting. Under a larger settlement agreement that Ramos reached with the board last month, his political committee also returned the $2,500.

City campaign-finance rules last year permitted candidates to accept no more than $10,000 from an individual political action committee.

The Friends of Juan Ramos Committee received a $10,000 contribution from the "Local 98 Committee on Political" after it had already accepted $2,500 from the "Local 98 IBEW Comm on Political Ed."

The ethics board's computerized review of donations did not catch the excess contribution because the name of the PAC appeared differently in each listing. Creamer said he noted the irregularity while doing a manual review of the contributions.

The Local 98 PAC is run by electricians union leader John J. Dougherty, now a candidate for the state Senate from the First District.

Ramos stated in the agreement that his committee had been unaware that it violated the campaign cap until it was so informed by the ethics board.

Yesterday, Ramos, who lost his reelection bid and is now a senior adviser at the Bravo Group government relations firm, referred calls to his lawyer, Michael Schaedle.

Schaedle said that now that Ramos is in private life, he "viewed this as an appropriate thing to get done and demonstrate his commitment to ethics reform."