Plus mileage, but let's just -- we're talking the City of Philadelphia, so people aren't traveling great distances. But let's just say the average cost is, with mileage, six bucks an hour. So it costs less than $18 a day in gas?
Plus parking, facility parking down here. Most of the time the vehicles are parked in a facility, that you have to add that cost in. When all those factors were added in --
But we're paying for parking whether it's a PhillyCarShare car or whether it's a City car.
The direct answer to your question is, yes, it's more economical to purchase the car. Over a five-year period --
How much does it cost per day to have -- 148 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc.
Councilman, I think maybe respectfully what you're missing is that we would keep the car -- the car we would purchase, we would keep it more than one year.
So over a five-year period, at that kind of usage, it would be better to purchase.
In one year, of course, it would not, because you'd have the capital cost of that first-year purchase.
Using rough numbers, times 250 is $5,000. That 19 includes gas, insurance. Well, you 20 self-insure anyway, but that includes gas, maintenance on a vehicle. So someone using a car three hours a day, it would be slightly less than that. Call it 4,200, just off the top of my head, to have that person rent a PhillyCarShare 149 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. car for three hours every single day, 4,200 a year. How much does it cost to buy that car?
Yes, sir. Dodge Cobalt off the state contract -- Chevy Cobalt. I'm sorry.
Well, how many of our passenger vehicles are Chevy Cobalts?
The people that would use PhillyCarShare would be very comfortable in a Chevy Cobalt.
Okay. Wow, that's pretty good, 9,000 bucks. And over what time do we amortize that car?
Over what 150 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. period of time do we amortize that --
Well, you have to when you're looking at the comparison -- what's the useful life of that car?
Of course, useful life always depends, but the average useful life we could get out of a sedan that size would be six, seven years, maybe eight.
That's including the time of the employee working on it?
Yes. It would come 151 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. in for a PM --
And the oil? That figure sounds quite, quite low. I don't buy that figure.
Point of information. The vehicle is still under the manufacturer's warranty for 36,000, three years. The only thing that they're spending is oil. Other than that, the brakes, they send it back.
How much gas a year? I'd have to do the math. I have all the of the spreadsheets I can provide you with.
If you could 152 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. provide us with the spreadsheets, that would be terrific.
Cobalts get like 35 miles per gallon. I believe that's what it is.
That's good. My next question was going to be, of the passenger vehicle fleet, what is the average mileage of our fleet?
We don't have a reliable information package to get mileage. It depends -- getting that kind of information, we don't have it electronically, so we have to get it by how it's written, and it's been unreliable for us. What we've counted on is using fuel, because that is electronic and it's very reliable.
Well, do you know how many miles a fleet car travels a year?
Do you know 153 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. how much we spend on gas?
We use gallons pumped, and a lot of the information we use is for hours because of the vehicles idling so long. So we use the idle hours, engine --
But that's not a passenger -- I'm talking about the 1,500 cars that are not used for emergency services.
So if you could provide the Chair with the average 154 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. mileage of that 1,500 passenger fleet and also provide it for passenger vehicles that are emergency services vehicles.
We can provide you with fuel information. We cannot provide you with mileage information.
Well, tell us what the manufacturers say the average mileage would be.
Emergency passenger vehicles. So that we're not -- you're putting fire trucks into the mix.
You just want like the Chevy Impalas, right, and the Crown Victorias?
No. I'd include the 834 SUVs, anything that's not a truck of some kind.
Would you be able to purchase a fleet that had mileage 155 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. requirements of -- if we set goals as a City of having an average of 30 miles to the gallon for our fleet, could you manage to that?
Yes. I believe there was an ordinance passed by Councilman Kenney last year that anything that we purchase has to be hybrid or efficient, some type of efficiency on fuel, and what we're trying to do, we used to buy Crown Victorias for the Police Department, with big V8 engines, gas guzzlers. Now we buy a Chevy Impala, six cylinder. The Police Department, they don't like it, but we're saving gas, and that's the object here. We have to save money.
Okay. But we don't know what the -- it would be good to have information about what our total mileage is.
Okay. 156 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Great. DHS spent 700,000 on tokens last year for its staff to travel across the City. Have you guys done a study to compare the cost of lost labor time due to travel time and looked at using PhillyCarShare or purchasing vehicles for them to replace that?
DHS has state funding, and they come to us when they have money and we buy them new cars. Probably DHS is probably one of the -- besides Water and Aviation, one of the newest fleets that the City has of vehicles.
Okay. It's my understanding that the contract with PhillyCarShare is out for bid now.
Yes. And Zipcar did get the bid. I was just notified that yesterday by the Procurement Commissioner, Hugh Ortman. So Zipcar now has -- I don't know when it's going to take place, but it should be soon. 157 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc.
Are you aware that PhillyCarShare is a local business enterprise?
Yes. Bob Fox was one of the ones that initiated that, along with Phil Goldsmith, a few years back that worked on this project for us. (Bell rung.)
And we even actually won an award from Harvard University because of the idea.
Well, my understanding -- and I'm just going to go through a few facts here. Does anybody else have a question? I'm sorry.
Did you want to answer that one question? I didn't realize that Councilman Rizzo was waiting. 158 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Please answer the last question that Councilman Green asked you.
Thank you, Madam President. I just had one curiosity question on these hybrid vehicles down the road. Mr. Fox indicated that they have like a -- internal reciprocating engine has nine years, eight years of --
The battery is guaranteed for ten years, and that was -- in the infancy stage of the hybrid, that was the $10,000 cost a lot of people were afraid of because of the hybrids, because of that battery.
So if you buy a Toyota Prius and we keep it in our fleet, if the batteries go bad in Year 7, Toyota will change out the batteries at no cost to the City? 159 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc.
Is that standard in the industry or is that just a deal that the City gets?
I'm not sure if it's standard in the industry, but a lot of people are doing it now, because that was one of the drawbacks of buying a hybrid vehicle, the cost of that battery, to replace it if it wasn't under warranty.
One of the things that I do want to follow up with you is the fact that being an automobile dealer is really a tough business to be in today, especially the Philadelphia car dealers, and I've been asked to talk to Procurement, talk to you about the concept of cars that are only domestically manufactured. And, again, I don't want to get involved in it here, but I think the present standard says the car has to be manufactured in the United States, Canada or Mexico. 160 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc.
I don't get the rationale, but the lawyers are looking at it right now. Because we've got car dealers that sell some very fine automobiles that are made in the United States that are foreign, but I think we've got to get with it and start looking at these very fuel-efficient vehicles that are available to us, but may -- the Prius, again, we've already set a precedent. The Prius is made in Japan. There's nothing made here. It comes from Japan directly to the United States, and we have them in our fleet. So I think we've got to get with it and start looking at some other automobiles, especially those that are sold in our own city, and those car dealers are really struggling. You go out in Southwest to the Auto Mall. Quiet as can be. And maybe there's an opportunity to help our home businesses. What do we pay, a sales tax, seven 161 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. percent here in the City when you buy a car? You can go right across the road and spend -- is it six percent or is it the same now?
So you pay the -- MR. McPHERSON: If I'm a Philadelphian and I go anywhere I buy, I pay seven percent. If I live out in the suburbs and I buy from a Philadelphia firm, I only pay six, which is state. It's place of destination.
If a person wants to come into the City and buy a car, they pay six percent sales tax? MR. McPHERSON: Which they would any place.
Okay. Got it. But my point being is that eventually I think we have to revisit our policy to see exactly what we can do, what we can't do in the area of being able to help support some of our local 162 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. car dealers that are really struggling right now.
Right. I know one of my concerns is that you buy American and you put Americans to work. That's one of my concerns. But if the Procurement Department and the Council overrules me, then that's what we'll do.
Well, then we should have never bought a Prius then if that's our theory here.
Thank you. I'm just going to go through a few quick facts for the record. PhillyCarShare submitted a Local Business Enterprise Application to be certified as a local business 163 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. enterprise for its bid on March 5th. On March 14th, the Revenue Department improperly rejected that application. On March 17th, bids were due. Had that application not been improperly rejected by the Revenue Department, they would have been a local business enterprise certified prior to the bid submission date. So I'm not sure the awarding of a contract to Zipcar is legal if PhillyCarShare decides to challenge that award, because the Revenue Department's action was improper, because they were later awarded the Local Business Enterprise Certification later in the process after the original bid submission date. Had they been a local business enterprise certified on March 17th, would PhillyCarShare have won the bid?
All that information is all handled through the Procurement Department, and what happens 164 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. is, once the bids are done, then Fleet is notified that the bidder is so-and-so. Prior to that, Fleet has no idea who has even bid. We're told after the award is -- after the contract is awarded to the successful bidder. Then we're brought into it. (Witness approached witness table.)
Councilmember, Madam President, Steve Agostini, Budget Director. I think we should be very careful about how we have conversations, and perhaps we need to go back to the Revenue Department, get you informed as to how and why that decision was made. I think that's a Revenue Department question and probably a Law Department question at this point as opposed to one to Fleet.
Fair enough. Thank you. 165 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. The Department has moved its invoicing and records receiving system from a manual process to a, quote/unquote, modern electronic workflow with retrievable images. What has the Department's experience been in making this change?
It's fantastic. I mean, it works -- it's more reliable than people, because it doesn't make any mistakes, to be honest with you. But that said, I mean, we had some challenges along the way. The company, Macken Imaging, has really brought the City's scanning process -- it's like brought us to a whole new world. We used to sit and match invoices and then besides that, packing slips, and then the person would have to put it in the typewriter and type out different vendors and then put all 22 the paperwork together, send it to 23 Procurement. Procurement would then have 24 to do something on their end. 25 Now what happens is, we scan it 166 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. in. It gets sent to Procurement. It changes what they need. They hit a button and it changes for what the Finance -- the Controller's Office. So it's all done electronically, saves a lot of time and a lot of money. People are getting paid a lot faster. I mean, it's actually fantastic for us. It worked out really, really well. Terry Antonelli, a person in our fleet, is the supervisor. She does a fantastic job with that.
I commend you for that effort. That's one of the things I'm trying to push in the rest of City government, and I know the Administration is working very hard on it also. How have you reengineered your workflow processes as a result of these changes? In other words, the people who are responsible for all that paperwork, have you gained efficiencies there or moved them into other functions? 167 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc.
We actually lost -- we actually eliminated two positions, but at the time, we were losing people left and right and we needed to do something, and that's what we came up with, because the Revenue Commissioner and I met together and he had money and I had money and we didn't have enough money each to do it by ourselves, so we jointly put this together. And it's been fantastic, I believe, for both of us.
In terms of what it used to cost and the number of people required compared to what it costs now, how much would you say you've saved just in that one function that you've taken paperless?
Well, at least two positions, I would say. The money I could probably get for you from Bob Fox.
One person is 168 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. doing it now.
And on top of that, we had filing cabinets taking up half the room of all our accident reports and work order history. So what we did, we started scanning in all our work orders now, so if somebody needs information, we can go to the computer, put the property number in or the work order in and get a printout of what information was done on that vehicle and send it to either Risk Management or whoever needs it, so -- and eliminated that space, and now that space is rented out to another department.
So the 169 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. efficiencies are more than just the salary savings.
A hundred thousand dollars, but it was a joint effort between Revenue and Fleet Management when we first initially tried to do this, because neither one of us had that amount.
Yes. Without benefits. So we have to add benefits in, because benefits are pretty expensive.
Okay. So basically your payback on the investment was one year?
Yes. Yeah. It was very cost effective, without a doubt. Sure.
Any other questions from members of the Committee? (No response.)
Thank you. 171 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. The Historical Commission is next. (Short recess for stenographer.)
Would you please state your name for the record and begin with your testimony.
I can't hear you. You have to speak into the microphone.
I am John Farnham, the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Historical Commission.
Good afternoon. I present for your review and consideration the Historical Commission's Operating Budget request in the amount of 172 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. $407,620 for Fiscal Year 2009. The proposed budget is unchanged from estimated obligations for Fiscal Year 2008. It will fund six staff positions and support the current level of service. Created by City Council ordinance in 1955 and reorganized in 1985, the Commission is responsible for ensuring the preservation of historically significant buildings, structures, sites, objects and districts in the City. The Commission identifies and designates historic resources, listing them on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. It regulates preservation through the City's building and other permitting review processes. With its federal certification, the Commission performs federally mandated environmental clearance and historic preservation reviews for public and quasi-public municipal agencies. During all of its reviews, both local and federal, the Commission 173 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. integrates historic preservation with economic development as it safeguards the City's unique heritage and wealth of cultural resources, fosters civic pride, promotes healthy and sustainable communities, enhances property values, provides educational opportunities and attracts new residents, businesses and tourists. In calendar year 2007, the Commission reviewed and approved 1,338 building permit applications under the local ordinance for properties designated as historic. It also conducted 16 reviews for the Historic Home Repair 17 Program, which provides grants to low- 18 and moderate-income homeowners. 19 In 2007, the Commission 20 conducted or supervised 2,279 federally 21 mandated reviews for projects undertaken 22 by municipal agencies. These projects include the rehabilitation of housing for elderly, disabled and low-income persons and the adaptive reuse of commercial 174 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. properties lining the City's business corridors. Despite these impressive accomplishments, the Commission has deferred numerous key tasks, especially the designation of historic districts, strategic planning and records conservation, as time-critical, ordinance-mandated review tasks have consumed increasingly more resources. Although the Commission faces significant challenges, it continues to improve and streamline its procedures, providing services in more efficient and effective ways, and moreover, the Commission is committed to improving customer service in several areas. Thank you, members of Council, for your attention. I am happy to address any questions you may have.
Thank you very much. Do you have jurisdiction over -- let me just go back to this. 175 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Last paragraph -- well, paragraph on the first page where you talk about that you serve as a consultant for Section 106 reviews conducted in the City and that you help with projects that include rehabilitation for elderly and the disabled.
Yes, citywide. The Historical Commission entered into a programmatic agreement with state and federal governments. The agreement has been reinstated many times. This has been going on for about 15 or 20 years. And under that agreement, the Historical Commission has the authority to conduct reviews that are required by the federal government before the federal government will dispense federal money, especially through the Community Block Development Grant Program, money that comes from HUD. So the Commission is 176 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. essentially working as a consultant for OHCD and other City and quasi-public agencies to help speed federal money into the City. If the Historical Commission were not performing this function, it would be conducted by private consultants, and the reviews would actually take place under the auspices of the state Historic Preservation Office in Harrisburg and the process would be greatly protracted.
Involved in a review capacity. For any property within the City of Philadelphia that is either listed on the National Register of Historic Places or is eligible for that register, the federal government requires what's called a Section 106 review to be conducted before it will dispense the funds.
Okay. Thank you. 177 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Are there any other questions? The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Just for your FYI, your predecessor spoke on behalf of a measure that is before the members of Philadelphia City Council calling for the professional certification of tour guides, testified at the hearing. We want to make sure you get the testimony, because we will shortly be bringing that up for a final vote. I simply wanted your office to be aware of that, that you all did testify favorably for that measure.
Thank you very much. 178 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Councilman Green.
Thank you, Madam Chair. You mentioned in your testimony -- I'll just read from it -- "The Commission has deferred numerous key tasks," tasks that I would submit that you are created for in the first place, "district designations, strategic planning, record conservation," and the reason for that is that "time-critical, ordinance-mandated review tasks have consumed increasingly more resources." How can we eliminate those or do you have a suggestion for us for a way for you to fulfill those in a different way than mandated by ordinance so that you can free up resources to perform what should be the primary functions of your office?
Well, you're absolutely correct that the Historical Commission has essentially reached that point where its staff capacity is -- its 179 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. staff is unable to take on additional tasks. From the mid-1990s through about 2003, the Historical Commission designated numerous historic districts, including the Society Hill district, Rittenhouse/Fitler and others, more than doubling the number of properties under its jurisdiction. During that period of time, the staffing stayed essentially flat. So now the staff is called upon to process -- and required to by the ordinance -- to process building permit applications for two or three times the number of properties that it was really planned for. Without a change to the historic preservation ordinance, it would not be possible for the Historical Commission to alter the way that it processes those building permit applications. Under the former Administration and the former Chair of the Historical Commission, Michael Sklaroff, it was decided that it simply 180 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. wouldn't be prudent for the Commission to continue to designate historic districts, adding more and more properties to its list without the resources to then process the applications that would be generated by those new properties.
Okay. I follow you. So can you provide to the Chair specific recommendations for altering the way you approve building permits that would free up resources for your activity, reviewing historic districts, et cetera?
Absolutely. And the staff has made recommendations like that as far back as Councilwoman Blackwell's task force on the historic preservation in 2004. We would be very happy to do that. There are some procedures that could be changed that would essentially give the staff of the Commission more authority, which would allow applications to be processed more quickly rather than 181 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. sending them on to the full Historical Commission that meets monthly. We will reach a point or a limit where we cannot become more efficient, essentially because we need to protect the rights of property owners, and every property owner has to have an opportunity for due process and to appear in a public meeting.
Absolutely. I'm just looking to squeeze out efficiencies. And then if you're not able to perform your core function, if you've essentially become a step in the zoning or licensing or permitting process for getting projects done, one wonders whether or not that's an appropriate role for the Historical Commission or it should be somehow placed in a different place like the Planning Commission or somewhere else to get information from you, but perhaps for them to go through the due process and make the decisions. 182 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc.
Absolutely. I'd be happy to make recommendations on how we could become more efficient.
And then also if you need more staff to perform your core functions or your purpose for being, if you could provide to the Chair what that would look like. I'd be curious.
Absolutely. We perform those calculations. We'd be very happy to provide those to you.
Thank you. I just have a question about -- I know that certification of historic property is currently based only on the exterior of the property. Is that typical around the country?
I would say that in most jurisdictions it is typical. The Philadelphia Historical Commission's jurisdiction is limited to the exterior envelope of any building on the site, the site itself and site appurtenances. 183 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. There are a few municipalities that have greater -- the Commissions within those have greater jurisdiction. For example, in New York, the Landmarks Commission does have some limited authority to designate interiors of buildings.
I understand that the reason the Boyd Theatre was not certified historic is because its exterior had been altered prior to someone applying for the permit. And that seems like an example of something that perhaps the Historical Commission should have some jurisdiction over. Do you have any thoughts on that?
I think that I absolutely agree with that, and I know that preservationists in the City of Philadelphia agree that there are some very important interiors that are worthy of protection that have a public component to them, that the public essentially has interest in their preservation that are currently unable to 184 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. be protected under the ordinance as it's written and under the Court's review of that ordinance in the mid 1990s.
Could you please provide the Chair with recommendations in that regard to the extent you think it's necessary also?
And is there any way to declare interiors' historic items currently under the law the way you declare the Dream Garden, for example, an historic item?
The Commission has the legal authority to designate objects as historic. It has used that authority in a very limited number of cases, I think only six or eight since it was given the authority in 1985. The Commission could designate objects within interiors. I think that I would need to discuss that with the Law Department to understand better where the extent of the Commission's jurisdiction could extend. 185 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. I would be reluctant to declare the entire interior of a building as an object. I think that would fall in court, but we certainly could do more to protect those historic resources that are important to Philadelphians that happen to be in the interiors of buildings.
That's correct. Thank you. I have no more questions, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Are there any other questions of this witness? (No response.)
There being none, thank you very much for your testimony. This hearing will stand adjourned until 2:00 p.m. today.
Is 186 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. the Streets Commissioner in the room?
No. The Streets Commissioner is sick. The Deputy Commissioner will do the hearing.
Oh, very well. Would you please approach the witness table. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: My name is Michael Zaccagni, Deputy Commissioner for Streets Department. Council President, would you like me to do a summary of the testimony or read it verbatim?
I think we all have copies, so if you want to abbreviate it, we'd be very happy. A copy of your testimony will be given to 187 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. the stenographer and it will be transcribed in full. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Thank you.
Thank you. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Good morning, Council President and City Council. Obviously I'm not Clarena Tolson, but I'm here in her place, along with Deputy Commissioner Carlton Williams. We're pleased to be here today. We request a General Fund appropriation of approximately 135 million for all funds and -- 135 million for General Funds and all funds of 170 million. Our proposed budget reflects a net general increase of about 5.3 million, consisting primarily of additional funding to support single-stream recycling. The budget also reflects a realignment between our General Fund and our special gas tax. 188 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. The Mayor in his Five-Year Plan outlined six core services, and the streets Department's mission for clean and safe streets closely fits with many of these service areas. Such programs as single-stream recycling, litter prevention and smooth streets will directly contribute to creating and maintaining healthy and sustainable communities. Other initiatives such as the enhancement of our street lighting system will support efforts to improve public safety. The Sanitation Division is responsible for solid waste collection and cleaning. Initiatives to improve quality of life in the City include increasing recycling diversion rate, expanding our litter prevention strategy and increasing education and enforcement of sanitation rules and regulations. A key component is reducing the amount of rubbish in the waste stream, and the Department is excited about 189 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. expanding single-stream and weekly recycling. We did have some slides in the PowerPoint presentation, but I see that that's not available. Clean cities aid economic development by attracting shoppers, tourists and new businesses, while excess litter is considered one of the early signs of neighborhood decline. We continue to focus on litter prevention and beautification through collaborations with community-based organizations, businesses and non-profits. Over the past several weeks, Deputy Commissioner Williams has been working closely with the Mayor's Office on the Philly clean-up, the spring Philly clean-up, which has been a huge undertaking for our department. Operation Smooth Streets is another aspect of our initiatives, and it started in 2006 and continues. We've been regularly meeting our goals of 190 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. one-day pothole repair and 30-day ditch restoration during season. We're also excited about additional funding for resurfacing. The $10 million that has been identified so far is going to assist tremendously with our resurfacing program. We will anticipate in FY09 approximately 10 million and in the out years 16 million 11 for resurfacing. This significantly 12 improves our ability to perform that 13 service. 14 The City-owned street-lighting 15 system is comprised, as you know, of over 16 100,000 street lights and luminaries. 17 The Department is currently conducting a 18 review of our lighting system, especially 19 in areas highlighted by the Police for high-crime areas. So we will be working closely with them to try to increase lighting in those areas. In support of all of these performance outcomes that I discussed and in the slide presentation that we 191 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. presented, we also are focusing on customer service and have identified key customer service measures and redresses. The Streets Department and its employees continuously and rigorously pursue our mission of clean, safe streets. We have a lot of people on the street working hard to maintain that mission. And this mission is closely aligned with the Mayor's six strategic areas of focus, and we are pleased that we can provide the services that we do, and this budget will continue to allow us to do so. Thank you for your time, and both I and Deputy Commissioner Williams are available for your questions.
Your testimony was excellent. Thank you. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Thanks.
37-4 of the detail, it reflects four realignment funding with special gas tax 192 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. bond that total approximately $5.3 million. Can you please explain this realignment? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Over the past several years, we've been working closely with the state during their auditing process to move funding from more difficult areas to track, such as Class 100 personal services and salaries, to things that more closely relate -- more closely support our mission or our ability to do the control, which is our street lighting electric bill. So what we've been doing over the past several years is moving funding in street lighting -- I mean, in our special gas tax from supporting such things as Class 100 into our street lighting electric bill, which makes it a much simpler process. It also gets us on the same timeline as the state. The state's fiscal year is actually the calendar year, and what we were running into with problems was just the timing of when we 193 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. could do reimbursements. So this has been a program over the last several years to try to get us aligned with the state's calendar year/fiscal year. So it's a wash. It doesn't add or lose any money. It's just moving it to different places.
Thank you. Please tell us how many full-time General Fund positions were you budgeted for in FY08. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: 1,901.
And how many full-time positions are you requesting for FY09? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: It's 1,965, I believe.
I think 66. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: It is an increase.
So 194 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. this would really represent an increase of 65 positions, not the 165 you are showing on -7. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: I believe that's a systemic issue with how the budget is constructed. The way the budget is constructed, we actually compare what is called the increment run in December. So it's basically our filled positions in December against what we are requesting in the authorized budget. And the reason our filled positions vary so much is because we do seasonal hiring. So when we hit December, it's kind of our low point.
No. 18 We're talking about full-time positions. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: Yes. When I say seasonal hiring, we'll allow our full-time positions to attrit out, and we don't start staffing up again until we hit our high seasons. So these are full-time positions that we purposely allow to attrit out over the year. So 195 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. when you look at it in December, our filled positions is usually much lower than what that 1,901 is, which is sort of the end position of --
And what type of positions are they? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: The ones that are currently vacant? We currently -- I believe when I last looked, we have about 70 or so vacancies. The majority of those are laborers that we're bringing on currently for obviously sanitation operations, and the rest are really distributed throughout the Department. We have engineering vacancies. We have construction project technicians vacancies. We have inspection vacancies. We have vacancies in our Highway Division. So we do have vacancies throughout the Department.
Can you tell us how many vacancies you currently have? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: 196 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. Yes. I believe as of our last authorized position list -- we check this every two weeks -- we had 74 vacancies.
On average how long does it take you to fill positions? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: On average is a difficult question, because, for example, with laborers, on average it can take us anywhere between six to eight weeks to fill a laboring position, as long as that list is available and readily available. And usually the labor list is. In certain other positions, it can take an extremely long time depending upon our recruitment efforts or the ability to recruit people. Our engineer positions have probably given us the most difficulty, as well as our technical positions, such as highway inspectors and construction inspectors over the last several years, as well as trades --
Why 197 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. is that? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: There's probably a lot of reasons for that. If you look at it from a human resource standpoint, just the industry itself is constricted. There's not as many people going into engineering per se. We're recruiting from a limited pool. The changes that have just been made to the residency requirement should provide some assistance so that we can have people that we can extend our recruitment area basically. I think that's going to help. But our engineering salaries, we have to always constantly be on vigilance that they are competitive. So it's important that our central agencies really look towards that. So there's a number of different factors, everything from the amount of people going into the area which we can recruit from, such as 198 4/2/08 - WHOLE - BILL 080022, etc. engineering, to our ability to attract those individuals.
In light of the number of vacancies that you have and the time it takes to fill these positions, can you tell us how you are going to reduce your FY09 overtime budget by over $1 million? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZACCAGNI: That's another issue with, I think, how the budget is presented. When I looked at what we're projecting for year end, our overtime budget is pretty close to what we think we're going to be at by the end of the fiscal year. So the '09 budget is pretty close to what we're using this year.