But you get a fee from that kiosk service? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Yes, we do receive a commission.
Right. And I would think that there are other -- for example, you get fees for work 205 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. release from work release inmates and whatnot. So there must be a list of revenue-producing fees that you get. I'd like to know what they are and how much do you get per year. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: We will do that. There's a number of fees. We initiated a check charge fee when an inmate disburses funds from their account where we have to prepare a check. We charge a fee for that. We initiated a commissary transaction fee. When an inmate makes a purchase from the commissary vendor, there's a processing fee associated with that. We looked at two things. We looked at a sick call co-pay and we thought it was more efficient to reduce our number of sick call visits, which we cut by almost two-thirds in two years and saved on our medical costs there. We looked at eliminating the portion of phone calls that we provide free to the inmates, and given our conditions and some of the 206 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. overcapacity conditions at our facilities, we felt it wouldn't be worthwhile to do that at this time. So we're looking at -- we have the existing revenues, like work release, which goes into the General Fund. Revenue from the inmate telephone system goes into the Airport. It doesn't return to the Prisons. So we do have some revenue generators as well.
The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez for a point of information.
One of the areas that folks have mentioned to me have been -- apparently we have a lot of visiting time. Have we ever calculated that and considered charging a fee for visitors? Because what they tell me is, you have some inmates who have continuous visitors and it costs us money to manage that. Have we ever looked at that? 207 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Because other cities are doing it. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Visits are limited. No inmate can have more than one hour in total visits per week. They can have as many as two or as few as one. We don't charge a fee to visit.
Have we ever looked at that? Just because it costs us money to manage the visit. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Well, one of the things that the Prisons did about three years ago was eliminate visits on most holidays because the holiday premium that was paid in salary to the officers assigned was considerable, but we haven't looked at direct fees to the visitors as yet, no, but it's something we can take a look at.
Well, that's actually where I was going with this line of questioning, is that there are fees that other prisons are charging and they're actually producing income, and many of them are counties that have a 208 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. smaller number than your 8,500, and one county in particular has 1,700 and they're generating more than $2 million a year just off those fees. So I'd also like to have that discussion with you later. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: And the existing fees that we have do generate significant revenue. The phone system generates well over a million dollars. The work release program before the number of State inmates were sent into State custody generated nearly half a million dollars a year. Smaller numbers --
What about work release? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Excuse me?
Work release. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Yeah, for work release. Our check charge and our commissary transaction fees are 209 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. generating revenue as well.
Where does that show in the budget? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: We can supply you with the totals.
Where does that show, though, in the budget, your fees? Because we couldn't find it.
I'm sorry, sir. Would you identify yourself for the record?
It's not in the individual departments, the revenues, no. It's in the budget summary.
Okay. Where? City budget summary. What does it say? Prison revenue? 210 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Okay. Do you have any idea how much it is, just a total?
Five hundred and fifty thousand. That's for locally generated revenue for the Prisons. That's what we're estimating.
Well, I think it's more than that, because you just said you get a million dollars off of something, off of work release.
The telephone reimbursements are in the Public Property budget, I believe. They're not shown in Prisons.
Councilwoman, we'll see to it that you 211 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. get a copy of that. We'll break it out. We'll actually find it all and put it all on one document and send it to you.
But those funds go into the City Operating Budget that would -- I guess that would be money that you would not need to get or it's money that you're almost putting back into the budget for some of your expenses? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Yes. They offset some of our expenses.
Right. Okay. I think you can get more, though. I mean, I really do. DEPUTY
If a 1,700-person prison gets more than two, with a projection of more than that for next year, and you have 8,500 people, come on, you can do better. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: We'll examine it again. 212 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
You're welcome. Councilwoman Sanchez, is she in the room? (No response.)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Commissioner, I can't remember when you were in here testifying, but I asked you to please sort of outline what in the budget reflected potential savings from the work of CJAB and other things that I've already mentioned here today and -- so, I mean, could we just get maybe the Deputy Mayor to tell us what reforms that we're working on that are likely to be put in place this year that will affect the Prison System. DEPUTY
Well, 213 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. the one that I'm hoping we will be able to get first and foremost is day reporting.
If we can get that through and we can come to an agreement on the custody levels and the protocol, I think that -- we have a subcommittee, as you know, working on that. If we're able to do that, I think that day reporting will probably start small, will probably start with somewhere in the order of to 30 individuals just 16 to make sure we get it right, but if we 17 can expand that 20 to 30 per month 18 instead of 20 to 30 for -- depending on 19 your length of time, we'll be decreasing 20 the amount of people that are obviously in the care and custody of the Commissioner on State Road. I would like to see that grow, quite frankly, to somewhere on the order of 200 to 300. I think that that's up 214 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. there. I think that that's the number we could probably get to, but I don't know the timeframe. But that's one of the first things that I could say right off the bat, I'm trying to get that through as quickly as possible.
If we would be able to get -- again, if we're able to move and get the right protocol so that we can put not just sentenced prisoners and getting them out early, so like early release, or even getting the people out on the weekends, the weekender population that swell the prison by up to a hundred, if we can get those folks out, we could actually reduce the numbers in prison again by hundreds or in the weekend by just dealing with our DUI population.
What about pretrial detainees, which are most of our prisoners, having GPS ankle bracelets? 215 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. DEPUTY
That's the one that I think that we'll have probably the most to discuss at CJAB. I know that I have my vision about the numbers of pretrial detainees. As you know, two-thirds of our population is pretrial, and there are low custody elements. I know that there are a number of people that I believe we should be able to divert out of the system completely, and by a combination of bail restrictions and conditions and GPS, we should be able to take hundreds of people out. I think initially we should be able to work on that, but, again, it calls for a lot of collaboration, because we don't want to make any of our partners too nervous. We're working both with the Police and District Attorney and courts, and we have everybody we've got to get --
Especially with respect to GPS. I mean, I think that holds real promise for the system, 216 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. because -- how hard would it be -- DEPUTY
How hard would it be for the Police to catch a person with a GPS ankle bracelet who robbed a Wawa at 13th and Callowhill? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Councilman, GPS has its advantages, among those are realtime reporting about location, but it also has its limitations. There's a concept of satellite drift where you may -- the GPS signal may be inaccurate for a certain range. Indoors GPS does not work. You need a supplemental measuring system, whether it's electronic monitoring or cell phone detection, to accompany the GPS tracking. In areas like the subways or some high-rise buildings it doesn't work at all. You can track a person to the location. When we looked at GPS tracking, we also looked at realtime tracking, 217 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. because in the event that there was a major crime or some type of incident in the City, we could determine who and how many and the identities of any of our offenders who might be in the area, might be witnesses, perpetrators or suitable for questioning in the incident.
That's great. I mean, as you know, these are all the things that I can say this Administration has been touting for a while. We've now gotten through an RFP process. We've qualified a number of folks. We have our partnership with the judicial branch that is coming on board. I know that Judge Dougherty has already trumpeted this now for our juvenile folks, who have already started using this, and now we're bringing it into the partnership at the adult level. I think that this is a very promising area, but I think that we are going to have to work through the 218 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. protocols that have to be made, and that's what CJAB is for.
Sure, but, I mean, if you look at what we're talking about, I think we rattled off very quickly 600, 900 fewer people in our prisons. That doesn't include something else that has been recently reported, the 3,000 people we're going to divert from prisons for summary offenses. DEPUTY
Now, the average stay is 90 days, so you have to divide that up. So I assume you're talking 300 on an annual basis even though it would be a different 300 people in each category. The 3,000, if you divide that by four, is almost -- what is that, 550, something like that? I don't know. No; 750. So there's 750 fewer people. Already we're at 1,500 fewer people in our prisons without a whole lot of work having to be done, because we're 219 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. almost there on a lot of this stuff. As you say, RFPs have been issued and people have won them, et cetera. And then I look at, say, the Aramark contract, for example, which for 2009 was $13,146,000. That's based on meals served. For last year was $13 million and for this year is projected to be $13 million. It doesn't make sense to budget the most conservative number in every single category when putting together a budget as a whole. I mean, why would we budget the same amount for that contract even though we have many fewer people that we anticipate being in? And that's just one of many examples. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: We had an increase in price per meal, Councilman, and we also had -- there's a built-in CPI increase in that contract as well over the terms. That amounted for some of that -- that accounted for some of that.
How much of that? 220 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: I'm not sure, but we could supply you with that information.
Okay. CPI hasn't been that high lately. I mean, we're 1,400 fewer prisoners than we were June of 2009, I think. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Well, that reduction took place over time. It wasn't 1,400 all of the sudden. It started --
Right, but we're there now. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: -- in roughly last fall.
And we're looking at another, let's just call it conservatively, 700 over the course of the next year. I mean, these little things that we roll through the budgeting process add up. So I guess what I'd like to do is just -- I was going to have you do this, but for the sake of time, I'll do 221 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. it. Over the last year's Five Year Plan, the amount of increase off the base every single year was 5.9 million, 6.1 million, 6.4 million, 6.8 million, and it went in that direction every single year. Now, given what we know about the successes that we've had, this year's Prison budget and Five Year Plan goes up 5.5 million, 5.7 million, 6.1 million, 6.4 million off our new lower base. What I really don't understand is why it's not going down by $5 million every year off our new base given the conversation we just had about diverting maybe 500, 700 people this year and in the next couple of years 1,700 people, et cetera. I mean, it looks to me like we just took the same percentage that we used to multiply the budget by in last year's Five Year Plan and multiplied that budget by our new lower base without going into each individual contract and really being thoughtful about it. Is that unfair? 222 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: I don't have the figures in front of me, but I can tell you the only place where we saw increases in the Five Year Plan was in Class 200, our contracts and services, and it was primarily cost estimators for escalations in cost to our medical and our maintenance and our food service costs.
But none of those assumptions assumed that we'd have 1,700 fewer people in the prisons in two years. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: No, they didn't.
Do we have a female population right now that would make it possible to close one female facility? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Right now we have female inmates housed at four facilities. We have Riverside on State Road, which is our primary intake and all-custody-level facility, and 768 beds. 223 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. That's somewhere in the neighborhood of 623 inmates today. There are areas which we can't occupy consistently, like intake and special management for a punitive say. We have the Cannery, which is located on Torresdale Avenue, has 124 beds. There are some work release inmates there that can't be moved because they have mental health and medical provisions, they need medical services. Of the remaining population, about 90 can be moved into our facilities, our Riverside facility, if necessary, and we have a contracted work release facility at Temple and Lehigh.
And can't we potentially put these people with medical needs in facilities not managed by us and then close that entire facility? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: If the population drops probably by 20 to 50, we may be able to look at mothballing the Cannery site, which is a hundred beds.
How much 224 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. would that save us? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Off the top of my head, I don't know, but it would save us --
If you could provide that to the Chair. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: It would save us --
I see service providers in this room that provide the kind of service that you're talking about that probably do it as efficiently as it's done at the Cannery. Okay. So you're familiar probably with what I've done at every department with respect to unfilled positions. So the budget reduction scenario we received for the Prison System included 14 items totalling 13.2 million in savings. We've been over them a little bit. Some of these seem like reductions we'd want to make in any event, especially given the conversation we just had as to the possible 225 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. reductions. Specifically, provisional housing and some of these others can add up to $4, $5, $6 million very quickly. Why are we leaving this in the budget in a time of need for the City economically? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: And by "provisional housing," I'm not sure what you refer to, Councilman.
Item 1, provisional housing, Class 200, 3,249,000. Provisional housing: The Prisons will no longer have contingency housing in most outside jurisdictions if population stabilizes. This will have no 16 effect on operations. If population rises, additional triple-celling will be necessary. That change alone saves us 3,249,000, and given the conversation we just had, I feel like that's a reasonable assumption for us to make. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Just as it states, we would -- it would require us to increase triple-celling, which is 226 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. not a condition that we want to persist at this point. We can close all the provisional housing, triple and quadruple everybody on State Road.
Nobody is suggesting that. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: But if we wanted to go that route, that's quite possible. We could do that. Right now we're under the threat -- we're not under the threat, but we've had litigation filed against us and a lot of our budgeting and planning is to avoid creating conditions that would aggravate that litigation or bring it down on us, which we've seen in the past. It's extremely undesirable.
A lot of these reductions have to do with reduced cost for healthcare, reduced cost for food service, as I mentioned. The assumptions here say that we'll save $600,000 for each $500 reduction we have in our inmate population from the Aramark 227 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. contract alone, and this is provided by the Prison Department in terms of what it suggested the cuts would be if they had to cut seven and a half percent. That seems like a reasonable assumption to make, that we are 500 lower than when this Aramark contract was put in place. That seems like a reasonable assumption for next year, that we'll save that $600,000 or we shouldn't appropriate it. Doesn't it? DEPUTY
Councilman, as I have said just in answer to your other question, this is again -- and as you indicated before, this is one of those philosophical matters that you're ending up dealing with. Yes, we can try and save. I think the Commissioner gave you the information about why that contract remain at the same budgeted level even though we have basically -- it is a reduction, because we have not actually increased it.
Well, he 228 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. didn't actually provide that. He said that was a portion of -- DEPUTY
Right, a portion of it. Now, we are maintaining and, as I've indicated, we've been very basically transparent with the fact that he made recommendations to me about these various things, and when we looked at trying to take out another million one from the Aramark contract, we would end up having to actually have in place the reduction and keep that for the entire year, and I was not willing to kind of bet the farm without the kind of -- against the historical stuff that we have seen, a four percent increase over the last seven years that this Council has actually dealt with. I think that next year this time, if we continue doing what we're doing and actually doing the things that we've discussed, I think that you will be able to see not only that we wouldn't have spent that money, but we might be 229 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. able to do something even better going forward. But we need to have that -- I think we really do have to have the evidence before moving in that direction.
And I think we've got the evidence. I think we've got the evidence. DEPUTY
Couple of clarifying points. Of the list that you have that add up to 13.3 million, there are a number of the items that we did take, in total about nine million from this list, plus an additional six and a half million, I believe, in reduction on growth factors for Class 200-related contracts where, as you had mentioned earlier, inflationary growth has clearly been a lot lower. So we took that. So, for example, the provisional housing piece you were just mentioning, that's no 230 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. longer in the budget.
Okay. Let's go through that. I should have started there.
Yeah. It's taking bits and pieces, and really the best breakout is, we took two and a half million dollars from Class 100 for things like the overtime, the item just above that, and then we took the provisional housing and we then took pieces of other contracts that we felt were reflective of the change in population. We can sit down and sort of walk through that or we can just give you the list of --
If you could provide it to the Chair, that would be great.
But what you're saying is that these specific things add up only to -- that you've taken $9 million --
So of this list, 231 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. we took $9 million. We then went back to the Prisons and looked at exactly the thing you mentioned earlier, which was with respect to the growth rates, where we had significantly higher inflationary assumptions for contracts from '11 through '15 and we actually brought that number down, so that in any given year, rather than seeing six or -- I'm sorry; $11 or $12 million in growth, what you see is typically five to six million in the balance of the Plan from '11 through '15.
Yeah, but we did take down to sort of base level again to reflect where we thought we were with population.
Sure, but we went up with the same rate of growth off the new base.
Right, and it's just a question of where you think 232 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. inflation is going to be.
Well, okay. But what's troubling about that conversation, the conversation that we just had, is that that means that we've reduced the population significantly and haven't achieved any real savings in Class 100 or other classes.
Well, Councilmember, I mean, if we look at the growth rate just for Class 200 in FY11, the total Class 200 is about $110.2 million for FY11. The growth rate in the subsequent year shows a $5 million increase, which, if my math is correct, is about two percent. And we're looking at those kind of growth rates sort of moving forward. The last check that I made with respect to inflation nationally, inflation is looking to be two and a half to three percent, so we're kind of under that level.
How much was the budget for the Prisons last year? 233 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
239.8 million. I think you and I had this conversation before.
We can do it. We can do it. The Commissioner is up to the challenge of continuing to reduce costs. I'm asking each department planning to fill currently -- I've been through this. So of the eight correctional officer positions -- I apologize. Prison Operations Division, Section 50, . Of the eight correctional officer positions in this division, there was one unfilled that is still unfilled. How are 234 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. these duties being performed today? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Deputy Commissioner?
No. It's a correctional officer. There's one unfilled position. Line 7 in the detail, . COMMISSIONER GIORLA: I have it, Line 7, . One unfilled position?
No. How are those duties being performed today? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: By someone on overtime.
Is that reflected in the overtime budget that you gave us? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Yes.
So if we fill this position, we can reduce the overtime budget? 235 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Yes.
Okay. Turning to the Administrative Services Subdivision, there was an unfilled accountant position, which is still unfilled. How are those job duties being performed now? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: It's being filled by someone who has been promoted. They're doing two jobs.
Are we paying them overtime? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: No. 15
It doesn't sound like we need another full-time person if someone is there capable of doing both functions. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Councilman, we're seeking to fill that position. It's only a matter of time before that becomes impossible.
So what are the consequences to the Prison functions of us not providing this money? 236 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: There will be a backup in inmate account transactions, deposits, disbursements, commissary transactions.
Is there a backup today? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Not at the moment, no. 10
There's no 11 backup today, but there will be a backup in the future if we don't fill it. Okay. Accounting Supervisor, what are the job duties of this person?
Councilman, Bob Fitzmartin. The Accounting Supervisor is the supervisor of the inmate accounts, bank accounts that we maintain for all the inmates.
They're being performed by the person that was promoted to another position. 237 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
No. The accountant position is actually a backup for that position. There's two positions unfilled in that area.
If you filled only one of them, could that person perform both of these functions that are part time performed by the other two people?
The two positions is preferable because then it provides some additional backup and for additional services to be performed that currently go by the wayside.
Well, let me ask you a question. Is there any backup as a result of not having an Accounting Supervisor right now? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: No, there isn't because comp time is used to fill those duties.
238 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Administrative Specialist II, same questions.
The Administrative Specialist duties are in the Business Office. They perform various analytical and budgetary backup.
And I might argue that that needs to be filled, but how are these functions being performed today?
They're being done by the person that's ahead of them. It's just less analysis and less reporting that we can do. So that hurts as far as that's concerned.
Departmental Payroll Clerk, same questions. How are these functions being performed today? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Departmental Payroll Clerk is being supplemented through overtime. 239 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
It looks like there's only one -- there's Departmental Payroll Supervisor vacant and a Departmental Payroll Clerk vacant. If we fill the clerk position, do we need the supervisor? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Yes, we do. The supervisory duties are being performed by a payroll clerk, an acting at this point.
But we're creating two new positions. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Yes.
So why not just promote the person acting and then hire one person to perform the Payroll Clerk functions that are being performed without any problem today? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: We're seeking to promote them off a promotional list, Civil Service list. 240 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
I understand. I mean, you fill the supervisor position with an existing employee and you hire one person instead of two, it sounds like you're going to be more efficient than you are in that department today and we've only hired one person instead of two. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: The Acting Payroll Supervisor is performing a clerk's duties as well.
I understand. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: So we have two people performing the duties of three positions. We've been using overtime to make up the difference.
We have two people performing -- we have one person performing two positions. We have the clerk performing the clerk's duties in the supervisor role, right? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: We have the two vacancies, the Payroll Clerk and 241 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. the Payroll Supervisor.
So what sky is going to fall if we basically promote somebody as supervisor that's already on salary and only hire one Payroll Clerk? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: We will be in the same position.
No. You'll be one person more. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: We'll still have a vacancy at the Payroll Clerk position.
Well, you'll have a vacancy for what sounds like is not a required position because the functions are being performed today with two fewer people than you're asking for. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: The functions are being performed today using overtime.
I understand. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: To pay for the time that that person has to do 242 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. the duties --
I understand. Is the overtime more than one full-time job? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: It's the equivalent of one full-time job.
Then that's all we need, one full-time job, not two. I'm going to move on. Human Resources Associate, same questions. DEPUTY
I have that that's filled. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: That's been filled. We have a vacant at Word Processing Specialist.
Word Processing Specialist II, how are these functions being performed today? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: They're being performed by other word processors assigned to our Personnel Department.
And why is the sky going to fall if we don't fill this position? 243 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Combination of overtime and comp time.
How much overtime does it cost us? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: The equivalent of a position.
I mean, I can check this, so please -- COMMISSIONER GIORLA: I can supply you with this.
And you're not including fringe in that calculation either. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: No. 16
So please provide with respect to that specific operation the overtime spent with Word Processing Specialist II's in your department, in this division. Correctional officer, there were 59 positions unfilled. How many are currently unfilled? They were unfilled, I think, in November. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: There are 244 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. currently unfilled. 3
Nineteen 4 currently unfilled. And how are the 5 functions of these vacant positions being 6 performed today? 7 COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Through 8 overtime. 9
So if you 10 hire these 19 positions, we can reduce 11 the overtime that is in your budget? 12 COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Somewhat. 13
16 Excuse me. Councilman, is this list much 17 lengthier? We have had -- 18
Well, could you forward that to the Commissioner in writing -- DEPUTY
-- 245 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. and he can respond in writing?
I do not care to do this in writing. I find it far more productive to do it --
Well, I just want to call your attention to the fact that we're trying to show how very efficient we are, when we have had --
Excuse me. We have had the Police Commissioner and just about all of his deputies sitting in the back of the room 15 for almost an hour now. So I just don't think it's fair to them.
Madam President, I don't set the schedule. I have a series of questions to ask.
Thank you. Social Worker II, same questions. How are these functions being performed now? 246 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Those functions are being performed now through a combination of limited overtime and increased caseloads beyond our policy expectations.
Administrative Specialist II, there's one of two positions at Riverside. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: That's a warden's administrative assistant.
How are these functions being performed today? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: By a correctional officer.
And would that free up that correctional officer to be one of the 19 positions that we need to fill? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Yes.
Okay. So we can say that there are 18 positions that 247 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. we need to fill if we free this correctional officer up, not 19? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Yes.
Correctional Lieutenant positions, I think this is at Riverside also, are unfilled in November. Have these positions been filled? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: We recently made promotions to fill those positions.
So both of those positions were filled. Okay. I guess this is also at Riverside. Five of the 189 correctional officers. Are these part of the 17 positions or are these separate? 18 COMMISSIONER GIORLA: I'm sorry. Where are you referring?
Councilman, I can tell you that there was 19 all told, so I don't know whether they've been put together. 248 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
Okay. Turning to the Detention Center, eight of the 257 correctional officer positions were unfilled. Have these positions been filled? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: No. 8
And how are these functions being performed today? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Through overtime.
And if you hire these people, we can reduce your overtime? DEPUTY
Same questions for Social Work Supervisor at the Detention Center. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Yes. Same answer. It's being filled through an acting -- a social worker working acting in place of the Social Worker Supervisor and in increased caseload for the remaining social workers in the 249 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. facility.
I'm moving very quickly now, Madam President. Industrial Correction Center, one of two Clerk Typist II positions. How are those functions being performed today? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: With correctional officers.
With correction officers. So if we fill this position, then you'd only need 14 correctional officers? 15 COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Yes. 16
Are there 17 any other positions in the Prisons where correctional officers are performing duties that are administrative in nature? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Yes, there are.
Can you please, for the sake of time, provide the Chair with a list of that? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: 250 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Certainly. I can explain it in about ten seconds.
Oh, sure. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: There are approximately eight wardens' assistants in secretarial positions in our facilities that are filled with correctional officers instead of clerical positions. This was done as a result of the hiring freeze which took place, because the duties still have to be performed. It did create some vacancies in our correctional ranks.
And are we filling all of those positions to free up those correctional officers? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: We're requesting to fill all those positions, yes.
And so that would mean we'd only have to hire eight new correctional officers, roughly? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: At this moment, yes. At this moment, yes. 251 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc.
In the Maintenance Subdivision, one of the four Institutional Maintenance Supervisors positions was unfilled. How are those functions being performed? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Through an acting tradesperson working in substitution and then backfilling with overtime.
And if we fill that position, will we be able to reduce your overtime? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: I have to expand on that. If we fill that position, yes. Those positions are extremely difficult to fill.
So it's probably -- COMMISSIONER GIORLA: We have a number of vacancies both in the trades and the support personnel for maintenance.
Okay. Prison Trades Worker II, Plumber. And I 252 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. assume with respect to all of these trades jobs, you're going to tell me they're just very hard to fill and that's the problem? COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Yes.
Okay. For the sake of time, I'll send you a list of those rather than go through them one by one. That's it. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. Commissioner, we really want to congratulate you on doing such a fantastic job. You know, for years we in Council have been saying if all of the law enforcement people would gather together, there could be something worked out where this system would be what it is today. I think CJAB has been able to accomplish that. My only desire at this point in time, if everybody that's been working together can continue to do that 253 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. regarding the medical costs, I think it would really be an A plus. I think you've been very, very responsive today. There wasn't a question that you were asked that you didn't know, and I want to applaud you for all of the changes that have been successfully made. Councilman Greenlee.
I'll just second what you say, Madam President. Thank you.
Thank you. COMMISSIONER GIORLA: Thank you, Madam President. DEPUTY
We can say come back again, but not today. Councilman Green. Excuse me, Commissioner. Councilman Green.
No. I'm 254 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. finished.
Oh, your light is on for the next round? Okay. Again, thank you very much. DEPUTY
We will now, at long last, hear from the Police Department. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Good afternoon, Commissioner. Thank you for your patience. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony. COMMISSIONER RAMSEY: Yes, Madam President. Charles Ramsey, Police Commissioner, Philadelphia Police Department. Good afternoon, Madam President and all distinguished members of City Council. On behalf of the Philadelphia Police Department, thank you 255 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. for your support and opportunity to testify before you today to discuss the future of policing in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Police Department's Fiscal Year 2011 General Fund budget request is $541,403,280 with the below-listed allocations. Salaries and overtime expenses, or Class 100 funds, comprise 97 percent of the Philadelphia Police Department's budget. There's approximately $525 million in Class 100, $7 million in Class 200 and about $8 and a half million in Class 300 and 400 funds. 9 million more than the current Fiscal Year 2010 budget, and the increase is due specifically to the addition of two Academy classes, for a total of 260 recruits, a three percent salary increase and a one percent stress increase for sworn personnel as a result of the recent Act 111 contract award between the City and the Fraternal Order 256 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. of Police, Lodge No. 5, and a $3 million allowance for the SugarHouse Casino set to open in the early part of Fiscal Year 2011. Our proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2011 maintains our authorized sworn strength of 6,624. The PPD did receive federal law enforcement funds from the Department of Justice's COPS Office for the hiring of an additional 50 officers this past fiscal year. These recruits are part of the current class of police recruits in the Academy slated to graduate this fall. 8 percent went to minority, women, disadvantaged or disabled business enterprises, and attached to this testimony is a breakdown of those contracts and various other awards. For Fiscal Year 2010, we continued to implement a civilian hiring freeze, with the exception of the 257 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. 1 million. In addition, we returned 190 vehicles to Fleet Management and reduced the number of take-home vehicles by 41. For the past two calendar years, the Philadelphia Police Department has continued to make significant progress in driving down violent crime in this city. Amidst challenging fiscal times, we have sought out operational efficiencies and service improvements while harnessing our resources around visible uniform patrol. The results are striking. In Calendar Year 2009, using 2007 as a basis of comparison, according to our Uniform Crime Reports, or UCR, statistics submitted to the FBI, we had the lowest number of murders in Philadelphia in the past seven years. Cumulatively since 2007, homicides have dropped a total of 258 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. 8 percent. 9 percent. percent. percent. And there are charts to my right that show some of those drops. Our investigative units have also been extraordinary in their efforts. 5 percent. The average clearance rate for cities our size is only 62 percent nationwide. The Forensic Science Bureau has been aggressively working to reduce their backlog of cases, and since 2008 to January 2010, they have reduced the ballistics evidence backlog by 81 percent, from 6,121 items of ballistic evidence to 1,178; reduced the chemistry 259 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. backlog by 89 percent, from 9,119 cases to 993 cases; reduced the stranger rape DNA backlog by 88 percent, from 99 cases to cases. The Department has accomplished these goals despite attrition and slowed hiring of personnel. Guided by our principles of smart policing, collaboration, prevention and continuous improvement, we have centered on lowering homicide and violent crime, targeting hot spots with enhanced patrol efforts and aligning our entire organization with our crime-fighting mission.
These are all remarkable achievements, and the Department has done so while reducing overtime expenditures for this fiscal year by over $8 million and over $16 million for the past two fiscal years. With the establishment of an Overtime Management Unit in the Department, dedicated police personnel, working in partnership with the District 260 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Attorney's Office and the First Judicial District in order to develop a coordinated approach to increasing efficiencies in the criminal justice system, have been able to develop solutions-based approaches. The Police Department is constantly finding ways to fundamentally change how it does business with fewer financial resources. We have had several foundational efforts over the past year, which have guided our policing strategy. The Department implemented a neighborhood policing model in the City with the arrival of Police Service Areas, or PSAs, in all police districts. Geographic accountability and integrity are now at the core of our police strategy. Under the PSA model, both Police and community will be working together to develop specific tactics for addressing crime and disorder. The same personnel are responsible on a day-to-day basis for policing their designated PSA. Make no 261 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. mistake, this is a significant shift in our policing strategy here in Philadelphia, one which increases accountability, takes a team-based approach and invests more resources in the community. In March 2009, the Department launched PPD2020, our strategic planning and development team, responsible for collecting data on best practices and policies in the areas of employee development, police service and public safety infrastructure. PPD2020 has managed several pilot projects involving the enhanced use of technology in our patrol districts, and the team is currently training our personnel on problem-solving tactics with the community. In April 2009, the Department spearheaded Operation Pressure Point, a multi-agency law enforcement initiative with 17 other local, State and federal agencies. Personnel from all of these 262 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. organizations worked side by side during the most volatile weekend hours and were deployed to hot zones within the greatest proportion of violent crime. From April 10th through November 1st of 2009, homicides in our 8 most violent districts dropped over 50 9 percent and shooting victims decreased 11 10 percent. Pressure Point yielded almost 11 five million in narcotic seizures, 247 12 gun confiscations, 93 nuisance bar closures and 500 bench warrants served. This year we will once again leverage our law enforcement resources with Pressure Point beginning on April 9th. The Department also joined with researchers in the Department of Criminal Justice at Temple University in 2009 for a major research collaboration involving over 200 police officers on foot beats around some of the City's most violent corners. Our goal here in this strategic partnership was to answer the following question: How do we precisely know what 263 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. works in terms of crime prevention and reduction? We implemented a data-driven plan for deploying our officers and we were able to measure the impact that our officers had in the beats in which they were assigned. Results after weeks 9 relative to the comparison areas were 10 positive, with violent crime decreasing 11 22 percent, vehicle-related crime 12 decreasing 12 percent, drug-related crime decreasing 28 percent and arrests increasing by 13 percent. Our foot patrol initiative was an important data-driven public-private partnership, which, given our demanding fiscal restraints, is extremely important now. Future classes that graduate from the Police Academy will be immediately deployed on foot patrol, including the class that will be placed this fall.
Lastly, as we plan our future over the course of the next year, we are looking forward to building a Realtime 264 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. Crime Center, or RTCC, here in Philadelphia. The Realtime Crime Center will provide a variety of investigative and analytic functions, in addition to serving as a 24/7 central operations and command center. The Realtime Crime Center will leverage advanced technologies in communications, information technology, surveillance and intelligence analysis, bringing the Department to the next level in its crime prevention and crime-fighting mission. In summary, we are seeing positive results for the Department and for the City. This is not by happenstance. We are making a concerted and committed effort to move the organization into the future in a fiscally responsible and mission-driven manner. Our proposed budget for the next fiscal year allows us to maintain our current resources. 5 percent budget cut, we will lose 357 265 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. 3 percent reduction in sworn strength. We all have a vested interest in public safety. This department can and will continue to drive down crime and work collaboratively with community members and all of our partners in making this city a safer place in which to live, work and visit. Thank you very much, Madam President, for your consideration, and we're here to answer any questions that you or others may have.
Thank you. I certainly want to thank you and the entire Police Department for all the wonderful work that you do. Commissioner, in your testimony you mentioned that you have received a $3 million allowance for opening of the SugarHouse Casino. Can you tell us where these funds are budgeted and how they will be used? 266 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER GAITTENS: Yes. Good afternoon, Madam President.
Good afternoon. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER GAITTENS: Deputy Commissioner Jack Gaittens. The $3 million was allocated in our Class 100 funds. The opening of the casinos is scheduled to begin sometime late in the summer, possibly August, although insider information tells us they're going to try for a July 1 opening to catch the 4th of July holiday traffic, so they are moving along with that. Looking at the timing right there, that's in the middle of our summer vacation period. Also it's a busy time for us. So we're going to begin by staffing that with overtime for the officers that are working there. We will have permanent supervisors there. They will be out of the 26th District. Currently, we are going to be leasing space out of the Penn Treaty Plaza, which 267 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. is very near to the site where they are putting up the casino, so it will be very close. Officers will be able to walk to their assignments from there. We will begin with overtime, but then as the Academy class comes out and as we move further on into the winter months, we will cut back on the overtime and utilize officers as we need them. Looking at the space we have, the lease will be $75,000 a year for the property, and we will be able to outfit it just by putting in lockers. The landlord is going to be amenable to making certain changes in the property itself. It was much more cost efficient than trying to build a new facility.
Thank you. What's the dollar amount for cost-related overtime proposed in Fiscal 2011? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER GAITTENS: The anticipated overtime for Fiscal '11 268 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. is 41,653,877. And if you look at the change from Fiscal '10, that shows that that will be an increase of $731,000. Now, that's a little misleading because in this past year, our most recent Act 111 contract actually is going to cause us an increase in costs of $19,686,104. There was a three percent salary increase and a one percent stress increase. So in the Class 100 funds, that's an increase of $18.3 million right there. There's also an additional provision for officers who are notified that they have to go to court on their day off, if they don't get at least 48 hours notice, they will have to be paid a minimum of four hours at two and a half times their regular rate of pay. Additionally, there is --
I'm sorry. Before you go further, whose responsibility is it to give them 48 hours notice? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER GAITTENS: 269 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. It is a joint responsibility. It starts with the District Attorney's Office.
That's what I thought. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER GAITTENS: They generate a court notice, and then the Department is responsible for delivering that court notice to the officer in a timely fashion. The estimated cost of that is about $6,070,000 for that fiscal year. Additionally, there was a tuition reimbursement, which is going to cost us 125,000. Another award was made for officers who decided to go with a .40 or .45 caliber Glock as opposed to our current nine millimeter, which will raise our cost by $570,000 in this year. And there was a provision for officers who attain their pilot's license or their Fixed Wing License for the Aviation Unit of 60,000. So, as I said, the total cost of the Act 111 award is going to be 270 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. almost $19.7 million. But getting back to your question on the overtime, if you just take the salary, three percent increase and the one percent stress increase and apply that to the overtime we spent in Fiscal '10, that would put us over 42 and a half million, which would be a $1.6 million increase in our overtime expenditures.
But how much of that is court related? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER GAITTENS: Court related, the $625,000 for that. We are still striving to make reductions in court overtime. We have been able to make some significant cuts in recent years. We have created an Accountability Unit, and that is their function, to look at all cost savings. In Fiscal Year '08, our court overtime was $24.8 million. In Fiscal '09, we got it down to 22.7. In Fiscal '10, we are hoping to hit a $20 million mark flat. So we are still aiming at court. That is one of our 271 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. bigger overtime factors, although we have 99 different overtime codes. There's 99 different ways of making overtime in the Police Department.
Thank you. Commissioner, what is your average attrition rate per pay period or per month? COMMISSIONER RAMSEY: About 12 per month is our average attrition. 13
That 14 has really been cut. I remember -- 15 COMMISSIONER RAMSEY: Well, 16 yeah. It used to be a lot higher, but what we found, as soon as the economy started to slip, we actually did slow down a great deal in terms of attrition.
I recall it being at least 30 a month for the longest time. How many recruit classes do you anticipate for Fiscal 2011? COMMISSIONER RAMSEY: Right now 272 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. we're looking at two, two classes.
And with the stimulus, you received stimulus? COMMISSIONER RAMSEY: Yes, we did.
Is that how we are going to have these additional two classes? COMMISSIONER RAMSEY: No, ma'am. We put 50 officers in the Academy now and we used the stimulus money for that. Now, we have to maintain our current strength in order to be able to not pay back that money. I mean, that's one of the stipulations with the stimulus money. So that number that -- the two classes will make up for attrition so that we can stay at the current strength.
With the stimulus money, with the hiring of the 50 officers, is that for a certain period of time or just until the stimulus money -- COMMISSIONER RAMSEY: Three 273 4/6/10 - WHOLE - BILL 100115, etc. years is the length of time and so -- plus one year retention, and there is an out year impact, but it's four years down the road.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Greenlee.