Committee Hearing, May 4, 2004

COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, May 4, 2004, 10:00 a.m. BILL 020455 - An Ordinance adopting the Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2005. PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA COUNCILMAN W. WILSON GOODE, JR. COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE L. BLACKWELL COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN BRIAN J. O'NEILL - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455

Good morning, everyone. This is the continued public hearing of the Committee of the Whole regarding Bill No. 020455. The first department to testify is the Personnel Department. I understand Civil Service is going to testify first. Good morning. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Good morning, President Verna and Members of City Council. I am Repsie Warren, Chair of the Civil Service Commission and I am pleased to testify on behalf of myself and Civil Service Commissioners Marwan Kreidie and Edward Keenan in support of the Commission's budget request for fiscal year 2005. Our total budget request of $164,055 represents an increase of $655 over our FICA '04 estimated obligations of $163,399. This increase is reflected in Class 200 primarily and reflects the changes in how legal advice 3 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 to the Commission is provided, from services provided by an employee, to those provided by contract. This change saves funds previously expended on fringe benefits. Under the Home Rule Charter, the Commissioners are charged with insuring the application of merit principles to public employment. And in carrying out that mandate, the Commission approves or disapproves a large variety of actions affecting Civil Service employees. These include the establishment of job classes, positions and pay classifications and personnel service contracts, Civil Service regulations and exemptions from the Civil Service. Significant time is also required to carry out another major role of the Civil Service Commission, that of an appellate body who hears and decides on Civil Service employees' appeals of personnel decisions. Most appeals are regarding dismissals, suspensions of more than 10 days, demotions, oral examinations, denials of requests for leaves of absence and claims regarding 4 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 injuries on duty time. Fiscal year to date through March, the Commissioners received 97 appeals and issued 122 opinions and orders resolving appeals. Please note that some opinions and orders related to appeals made in FICA '03. With this budget, President Verna and Members of Council, the Commission can continue its important work of assuring the preservation of the Philadelphia merit system as mandated by the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter. At this time, I will be very happy to answer any questions you may have at this present time.

Thank you. Can you tell me how many residency waivers are granted a year?

Residency, I assume, is about -- that we approve or disapprove most of them -- I would say about 10 to 15 for last year.

We 5 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 have granted waivers for?

Yes. But they're only for like a six-month period. Yes; just for a six-month period. And then they must move within the City limits.

Fine. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.

Could we get a list from the Commission on the people that have waivers? Because I believe the Charter allows people to take six months before they're required to move in without a Civil Service exception, but I'd like to know how many people have extended beyond the City Charter's mandate.

I think you would have to be a resident for at least a year prior to.

No. 22 Employees other than police, I believe, can move in.

What positions -- 6 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455

We do have a list that we can provide you with.

We would appreciate that. Can you tell us what positions they were for? What type of positions were they for?

All right. The positions of -- some were for police and some were like for engineers, you know, and positions that are very difficult to fill.

Fine. If you would provide us with that list, I will make certain that all the Council members receive a copy. Thank you. Are there any other questions or comments from Members of the Committee? (No response.)

Seeing none, I thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you. Personnel. Good morning. Please identify 7 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Good morning, President Verna and Members of City Council. My name is Lynda Orfanelli. I'm the Personnel Director for the City of Philadelphia. I'm here to present testimony to support my department's budget request of $4,568,071 for fiscal 2005. That's our general fund request. With me today are Deputy Personnel Director Tanya Smith, Celia O'Leary and our Administrative Services Director for the cluster, Dan Earley, who is in the back. Our FY2005 proposed budget contains $4,124,932 in Class 100, $362,530 in Class 200 and $80,609 in Class 3 and 400. Our fiscal 2005 budget represents a decrease of $401,716 from FY04 estimated obligations. A quarter of this reduction is due to decreased liability for lump sum payments for separating employees. Other reductions are in recruiting, training, maintenance and a one-time commuter system expense for a Sigma IV upgrade. 8 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 The mission of the Personnel Department is to recruit, select and retain a diverse and effective work force to support the goals of the City. This mission is a critical component of any plan to manage shrinking staff resources while insuring that services suffer as little as possible. One of our methods for handling this goal is our work force planning. To achieve this goal of effective employee recruitment, selection, retention, we develop a citywide work force plan. The plan is a consolidation of hiring, promotion and job design work requested by City departments for the upcoming fiscal year. The Personnel Department uses a plan to assign work to our analysts, and the office of Budget and Program Evaluation uses it to insure that requests do not exceed available resources. Management of this plan is a critical linchpin as City leaders deal with the impact of employee turnover due to the DROP. 9 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 Similarly, the department works with City managers and executives to redesign jobs to accommodate new ways of working with reduced staff resources. As part of our recruitment and selection program, we look at applications. The number of people, candidates, who apply for City employment and promotion varies from year to year based on needs identified in the work force plan. While targeted recruitment is needed for specialized hard-to-fill jobs, in most cases, the City receives many more applications than are needed to fill the limited number of vacancies. Even though only 46 percent of applicants actually report to a test site and take an exam, the City still has many more job candidates than are needed. 6 percent of the people who pass City exams are ultimately hired or promoted. In FY04 to date, the Personnel Department received over 51,000 applications, tested over 15,000 people and ranked 11,455 candidates on more than 350 eligible lists. 10 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 Only 1,383 have been hired or promoted, and 15 percent of those were police officer recruits. These characteristics of the City's applicant pool have resulted in the Personnel Department's proposed introduction of an application fee. Such fees are typical in other jurisdictions, such as communities in Montgomery County, Lancaster and Allegheny Counties, and throughout the States of New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts to name a few in our region. Fees will be waived for applicants on public assistance or unemployment compensation and for candidates being recruited for hard-to-fill jobs. It is expected that the fee will decrease the number of frivolous applicants and applicants who choose not to take the examinations, which, as mentioned earlier, is over half of the applicant pool. Such applicants waste staff resources used in processing their information and notifying them of the test time and date. One of our other goals is work force diversity. In our continuing efforts in 11 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 recruitment and selection, they've resulted in a steadily more diverse work force. 9 percent.

4 percent to 4 percent of the work force. 8 percent to 37 percent. These numbers demonstrate steady positive progress in increasing diversity in the City's work force. We've also taken steps to reduce costs through automation. Since fiscal '90, the Personnel Department has reduced its staff by 35 percent to its current 83 positions. This was made possible by the fiscal '92 purchase of software to support applicant tracking, test scoring and list management and by organizing into cross-functional teams in fiscal year 1997. This year, the Personnel Department is working with MOIS and the office of the 12 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 Finance Director to automate the process used to separate employees and also for new applicants as well. The team is currently working on automating the new hire process. It is expected that implementation will increase the speed and accuracy of these processes and reduce the resources needed to provide them. The Personnel Department's Customer Service Center provides information to applicants and employees on vacancies, application procedures, test schedules, test scores and eligible list status. We have an automated job hotline which is available 16 hours a day. We also have job postings on the 17 Internet. 7 million 19 times since July of '03. 20 Finally, the Personnel Department 21 continues to administer a comprehensive 22 benefits program for about 7,500 City 23 employees. The City provides a life insurance 24 program for over 39,000 represented employees and retirees, which we also administer. 13 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 This concludes my testimony. I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Ms. Orfanelli, with the previous speaker, you gave a list?

Yes.

Would you mind explaining what that list was? Because I think it was testified that we have about ten waivers a year and yet the total amount that's shown here is 49. We don't know when --

I got about 70.

However, I think I calculated 63, but if you look on the first page, it has ten. I don't know. Six seem to be lost somewhere.

It's class waivers. It's not individuals. So, in other words, we could have a waiver for a position, a type of position; for example, doctors, but we could have ten doctors. So it's a waiver for the class, not the number of employees. 14 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455

Well, I had asked how many residency waivers we give a year, and I think the answer was ten.

I believe that Repsie thought you meant by position, not by person.

Well, what does this list represent?

This represents the people who are in those class waivers.

So there are ten class waivers?

Right. She gave an estimate of --

These are not the number of people that --

That's correct, Councilman.

Go ahead. Councilman Nutter.

I don't know whether this is a printout problem or a copying problem, but the document that I have starts with , continues with , 15 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 starts up with another page that doesn't have a page number and ends with , but the total is clearly not 49. I'm up at 73 I think before I got to the last page. So I don't know whether there was a printing problem.

I should check into it and find out. It looks like it was printed at more than one date, so that -- I see what you're saying.

Well, you got an 11/5, 5/22, one with no date and 5/22.

Well, it's different department numbers, but it's different -- I think it's different dates. What I need to do is go back to the IT person who produced this list. Because they are, one is dated 11/5/2003 and the other one is dated May 22, 2003. So I need to get a consolidated up-to-date list for you.

Madam President, point of information.

Yes. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo. 16 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455

For my needs, what I would like to have, as of today, I would like to know how many people get paid by the City of Philadelphia that don't live in it and when they are expected to move into the City and how long they have had that waiver to allow them to live outside the City. Did I cover it all pretty much?

Yes. I think we understand. We will get that information.

And we would also like the job titles, please.

Okay. So we'll produce a report that has the name, the job title, where they're living, if and when they'll be moving into the City. Some of them are waivers where they are never going to move into the City.

Never?

Well, there are certain positions, such as physicians, where we have such a difficult time recruiting, that they have a permanent waiver. So there are a few permanent waivers. 17 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455

We would like to know that.

So we'll get that information.

What title would be granted a permanent waiver?

Well, physician is one of them.

A physician? We don't have physicians?

I think we can find a doctor that would be willing to work.

What do these physicians do?

They work for the Health Department.

For the Health Department.

Yes.

And we could find no other person in the City who would like to work with us who happens to be a doctor other than -- 18 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455

The Health Department recruits, but has had a lot of difficulty over time because of the schedule. These are people who work half a day. If they have practices, they are frequently not available to work on this kind of schedule or time. We have doctors that live in Philadelphia as well, but when we're in a critical crunch, we also go outside.

Okay.

I just can't figure why it would be desirable for a physician that lives in Bucks County or Montgomery or Delaware County to come and work in the City for half a day when we have doctors here. I think the Health Department really needs to come back and explain. Are you involved in that recruiting process, to help them find local physicians?

Actually, they're not Civil Service. They're Civil Service exempt, so I'm not -- they don't test with us. I don't test them or recruit them. 19 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 We sometimes help with their recruiting, but they do that mostly themselves.

Do we make sure their credentials are in place?

The Health Department is very careful about that.

The Health Department. Why would the Health Department be doing that and not Personnel?

Because they don't come through the normal Civil Service route. We don't do Civil Service testing for physicians. This is not -- this is something --

I'm not suggesting testing. I'm talking about to make sure they're a real doctor. I mean, you read about this constantly where someone went to a mail order house and got his degree in medicine. I mean, how do we really know if you're not part of that process?

We've never been part of that process. Certainly I can speak with the Commissioner and -- certainly. 20 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455

Personnel would be able to involve themselves in that process if requested, correct?

Yes.

Ms. Orfanelli, I don't want to belabor this issue, but how many people are Civil Service exempt from this list? You couldn't tell me right now?

We're going to have to do a new list, because part of this list goes back to May of '03. So I don't know that this list is accurate anymore. So I'm going to have to produce a brand new list up to date.

What I would like to know, I'd like you to work from that list and let us know if the people were hired, have they moved into the City.

Fine. We will get that information.

Okay. We'll get back to your testimony. In the recruitment and selection 21 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 portion of your testimony, you mention the introduction of an application fee. Since an ordinance establishing such a fee has not been transmitted to City Council, I have to assume that you will be doing this administratively. Am I correct?

That is correct.

Is the application fee limited to Civil Service jobs?

Yes, it is.

Will the application fee be for new hires or will it be imposed on promotional exams?

It will be for both.

Oh, for both. How about part time, temporary and seasonal?

Part time, temporary and seasonal usually don't fill out applications.

What 22 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 is the projected revenue to be generated by the application fee and can you tell us how you arrived at that estimate?

We took the average number of new hires, which is 26,479. We multiplied it by --

I'm sorry. 26,000?

479.

New hires?

Applications. Applicants, not new hires. Applicants. I'm sorry.

I thought you said new hires.

I'm sorry. I used the wrong terminology. We took the average number of applicants. We multiplied by the application fee of $35. That came to 826,765. We assumed 20 percent waived and came up with a figure of 666,765. For budget purposes, we're using 600,000. We did not include laborers in that 23 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 applicant pool. So we took a conservative number.

But if we have a job freeze that's in existence, do you think we're going to generate that kind of money?

The job freeze isn't impacting on our applications. We're still getting large numbers of applicants.

Why would people file an application if they know that there's a job freeze?

They're doing it. If you look at our numbers, without the laborers, we had --

But they're not being charged at this point in time?

And more than half of those people don't show up for tests.

The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode for a point of information.

Thank you, 24 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 Madam President. The point of this new fee is to cut down on frivolous applications?

Yes.

So how do you expect to cut down and how much do you expect to cut down over the course of time? Let's say over the course of the five-year plan. I mean, you expect this to be declining revenue at best, I'm assuming?

That's correct. Actually, we're actually taking a conservative number that is much -- if we took the number of applicants and multiplied by 35 and took the waivers, including promotional, it's a much higher number than we're projecting for the budget.

And so in the end --

We're also using a low number.

If the point is to get rid of frivolous applications, you mean people who apply but don't take the test, 25 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 is there an added goal of trying to get more people to take a test?

I guess the question I have is, why would we want more people to take the test?

To have a larger pool of applicants so you have a better labor pool to choose from.

Our pool is so large right now, that I don't --

Your pool of frivolous applicants is large right now. Your pool of people taking the test is not large right now. So is there any goal to increase the number of people to take the test and how do you achieve that?

I don't know if you had been here for my testimony, but the actual --

Yes. I was here before your testimony. I was here for the Civil Service Commission. My question was specifically --

Well, let me Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 give you the numbers so you understand.

My question is specifically, and I'll ask it a different way, are you looking to charge people for frivolous applications, make whatever money you can make off of this year, and then knowing that revenue is going to decline, with no strategy whatsoever for actually getting more people to take the test?

Well, our strategy -- assuming that we have a position that is difficult to recruit, the application fee will be waived. If we have 15,000 people that actually showed up to take tests last year and only 1,383 qualified, then we had plenty of applicants. We had too many applicants. That's applicants who actually even showed.

So you do have enough people who are actually taking the test?

Yes, we do.

Okay. Discuss with me for the first year, you've 27 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 talked about what revenue you expect to get from the number of frivolous applicants that have to pay this fee. How does that decline over the five-year plan?

We are expecting about a to percent decline. 8 Remember, our number has already been reduced 9 from what we actually expect. So, I mean, 10 we're saying 600,000 that we're going to bring 11 in. Reality is that if we didn't -- 12

At the end 13 of the five-year plan period, how much do you 14 expect to be bringing in that fifth year? 15

Probably it 16 will be more like 400,000. I don't have the 17 actual number, because we aren't really sure 18 what the decline will be. I mean, at this 19 point, it's guesstimates. 20

Thank you. 21 Thank you, Madam President. 22

I 23 think Mr. Dubow is here. He should explain 24 what's in the five-year plan. 25

Good morning. Rob 28 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 Dubow, Budget Director.

Good morning.

The five-year plan assumes 600,000 a year all the way throughout, and in part, it's because of what the Personnel Director has been saying, that we actually assume a decline right at the beginning and it's unlikely that the decline will actually be as large as what we're showing. The numbers that Ms. Orfanelli cited were 660,000 for the actual number for the first year. We're including 600,000. So it's a fairly conservative number, so we don't take it down. So it does go down over time. I mean, from where it is now, we'll probably hit the number that's in the plan.

Councilman Goode, does that answer your question?

Just for the record, I'll just be direct about it. So you're charging people for 29 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 frivolous applications, you have enough people testing for jobs, but you want to charge people for frivolous applications over the next five years?

Since 54 percent of the people who apply didn't show up, those are people who probably --

Are you answering my question?

Well, yes.

If the answer is yes, then just say yes, you charge people for frivolous applications over the next five years.

Yes.

Okay. Thank you.

Okay. What are the procedures for waiving the fee and who determines if it is to be waived?

If it's a difficult position to recruit for, then we will make the decision. If it's a person who is on public assistance or unemployment, then 30 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 they will produce the forms to show us that they are, and they will be automatically waived. We will photocopy that, attach it to the application and not collect any money.

So who will collect the fee and how much is it going to cost us to collect the fees?

We are going to collect the fee and --

Are you going to have to hire additional personnel to do that?

In our budget, we've added an account clerk. Our Customer Service people will be the ones who will actually be collecting the fees, giving the receipts to the people who are the applicants or mailing the receipts.

I'd like to get on to another issue. Can you explain what steps are being taken for the City to be self-insured?

I'm not involved in that process. 31 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455

Who is?

The Budget Bureau and the Finance Department.

Mr. Dubow?

That process at this point is being run out of the Finance Director's office, and she testified, I guess, a couple of weeks ago as to what we were doing.

Time is running short. I mean, I don't know what we're doing.

I think we agreed at that point that we would give you a briefing on that, and I'll see what's happening with getting that set up.

Because that certainly will not happen over night.

That's right. And we don't assume in the plan that it happens over night. We don't assume that anything 32 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 happens at least until January.

You could never do it in that short period of time. However, it's not your problem. It's our problem. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Ms. Orfanelli, I know you're going to get us some additional information, but I'd like to go back to this list that was handed out and then I'd like to go back to where we were just a few minutes ago. I know you're going to do another run on this. This was a list produced by your office. This is employees who live outside the City of Philadelphia?

That's correct.

Can you just tell me what a couple of these numbers mean? On the far left-hand side, there seems to be a code assigned to different groups of people. You see 16, 17, 22. 33 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455

That's the department number.

So what is 16?

Recreation.

Now, what does OAD, LAD and Long Date stand for?

Where are you looking?

Far right-hand side up at the top, OAD, LAD and Long Date.

I see it. I'm sorry. OAD is original appointment date, LAD is latest appointment date and the other number is longevity date.

All right. So original appointment date, how is this done? Is the year the first two numbers?

Yes.

So for this first person, their original appointment date was 6/30/02?

That's correct. 34 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455

And their last appointment date was 6/1/03?

Correct.

So what, are they getting an appointment every year?

This is a temporary position.

Well, let me ask a question. Why would we need a person from one of our suburban areas as a temporary person in the Recreation Department?

It's possibly someone who was a college student who was recruited who didn't live in Philadelphia when they were originally hired, but, of course, this one looks like -- I don't know. There's two appointment dates here, so... It could be someone who worked for the summer and was attending a college in the area or was hired on a temporary basis for a summer program.

I hear your response. I appreciate all of that. Why would we need to recruit a person from the 35 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 suburbs to work for the Recreation Department? There are a lot of people who are college students here for the summer, may go to school somewhere else, but actually live here, who might want to have one of those jobs. What about the second person? 6/26/03 was the original date, the last appointment date and the longevity date. And that's in Recreation. Now, even if you get a waiver from outside, isn't there a six-month requirement to move into the City?

It's possible, and I don't have the class code list with me, but these could be life guards, which we have a terrible time recruiting. We have a very difficult time hiring qualified life guards.

All right. What's the class for 22? What classification rather.

22 is the Department of Human Services.

Department of Human Services. 36 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455

We have a waiver for social workers. They are supposed to move into the City at some point.

All of these people were appointed in '03.

That's correct, but this report was run in '03 and they may have moved into the City since then. This report was run in November, and these appointments, if you'll notice, were around May. And they have a year to move in.

Well, the second one was in February of '02. The third one was in February of '03. I mean, I guess --

I really need to have a new report run to clean this up.

You're going to re-run the report.

Sometimes this information is stale. That's the reason why we need a new HR system. The information isn't automatically updated. They move in, they don't give their HR person their new 37 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 change of address, our system still shows the old one.

Well, let me ask this question: Who is directly responsible for making sure that people move in?

Each department is responsible for their employees.

And who monitors the departments in monitoring their people? I mean, you've got --

We get lists from the Department of Motor Vehicle, which we send to the departments and ask them to look into any people who are living outside the City.

I understand that, but, I mean, I don't want to make too many assumptions here, but is there a monthly report run of employees who live outside the City and then someone says, Well, let me go talk to Recreation, let me go talk to DHS, let me go talk to whomever, because their person is still showing on my report as 38 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 living outside the City, it's now six months, it's a year, whatever the case may be and --

It's a quarterly report.

Okay, quarterly.

When we get the quarterly report, we send them the report and ask them to let us know what the status of the employees are. So we basically monitor it, but we don't have any authority to take any action. Then we send --

And if they don't get back to you or if they don't do anything --

I'm sorry. Then we send --

If they don't get back to you or if they don't do anything about it, then what?

We send it to the City Controller.

Who does what? 39 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455

They have investigators to check to see what the residency situation is.

Well, you know what? We have this wonderfully unique relationship with the public employees. For us, it happens like clock work. About every other Thursday at 3 o'clock, it just magically appears in my office, an envelope. It has a wonderful message inside. It tells me that I'm getting paid. So if you really want to get someone's attention and they're not paying attention, stop their check. You'll find out every piece of information you want at least in two weeks.

We don't have that authority.

I understand that. The Controller's office does.

Yes.

Or the City Treasurer does. 40 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455

Yes.

So while these investigations are going on, while we're checking out whatever it is we're checking out, if you just put a hold on the person's check. If you just don't deliver it to them and say, When you come over and give us your information, we'll be glad to turn over your check this week, I bet you'll get every piece of information that you need.

I agree.

Just by holding it in the office. Just send them a little e-mail, a little note. So let me ask about this person in Classification 14. What's 14?

Health Department.

Health?

That's the Health Department.

We have someone on here whose original appointment date was April 3, 1996? 41 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455

This is a position that has a permanent waiver.

How many positions have permanent waivers?

That, I have to look up.

What's 22?

is 10 Department of Human Services. 11

I think I 12 asked you that already. That's in two 13 different places. 14 All right. And lastly, 28? 15

Water 16 Department. 17

Okay. The 18 President asked you and Councilman Goode asked 19 you about this fee issue with regard to test 20 taking. Now, you said in FY04 to date, you 21 had 51,000 applications, you tested over 22 15,000 people. So, first, are you telling us that 36,000 people just dropped out of the process?

That's correct. 42 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455

And then you had a much smaller dropoff from the number tested to 11,455 candidates on more than 350 eligible lists. So does that mean that 11,455 people actually passed the test?

That's correct.

And then you go on to say that only 1,300 were actually hired or promoted. Now, I'm assuming part of that is a function of either how many people leave government just on their own or DROP or who can make it through the process since we actually have a hiring freeze on, right?

That's correct.

So if we didn't have a freeze on, that number might actually be a little higher?

Yes, it could be.

Now, you said that, which I wrote down, you said that the number did not include laborers in your 43 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 calculation. Which number did not include laborers?

Our average number of applicants, our average annual number of applicants that we're using to make our calculation did not include laborers. That number was the 26,000 number.

You had 26,000 people apply for laborer positions?

Our average in the last three years of applicants is 26,000. That did not include laborers. We test for laborers every other year, and that number could be as many as 13,000 just for laborers.

I'm sorry. You just confused me.

Sorry.

What's the 26,000 number?

26,000 number is the number of people who on average apply for our tests. That would be police, engineers.

I thought 44 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 you said in FY04 you had 51,000 people apply.

We did laborer this year.

I'm sorry?

This year we had our laborer exam, a holding for laborer. That's why it was so high.

Oh, you don't have one of those every year?

Every other year.

All right. So out of the 51,000, you're saying 26,000 were laborers?

15,000 this year. We had a lot of applicants this year.

I must be having a hearing problem or something. People come in to take the test. The fee is proposed to be what?

$35.

And if the person says they can't pay, what are we going to do? 45 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455

If they're on public assistance or on unemployment, then we're going to waive it.

And what, they'll have to come back and show you documentation?

They'll have to bring -- it will be on our announcement about how it will work and what documentation you'll need. So that will be on our web, that will be in our Customer Service office.

So --

Point of information?

The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode for a point of information.

Very quick, they have to show you documentation for unemployment compensation or they have to actually be unemployed. I guess my question is, do you know how many of the 51,000 or 26,000, whatever number it may be on average, do you know what percentage of people who 46 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 apply for City jobs are actually unemployed?

No, we don't.

Do you have a way of finding out what percentage of people are actually unemployed?

I'm sorry?

Do you have a way of finding out what percentage of people who will be applying for City jobs are actually unemployed people?

Based on New York State's experience, theirs was 14 percent. 15

I'm talking 16 about in Philadelphia. 17

We don't have 18 that information at this time. We will after 19 we start doing this. 20

So if you 21 have any number of people whose unemployment 22 compensation has run out, but they're still unemployed and applying for City jobs, you intend to charge them?

Unless they're 47 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 on public assistance, yes.

Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Nutter.

Councilman Nutter, can I just get one issue cleared up in my mind?

Sure.

Are we also charging for laborers to file, the $35 fee?

If they're not on public assistance or unemployment, yes. As a matter of fact, in the City of New York, the application fee is $60 for laborers because they had so many applicants that they didn't need. We have so many applicants that we don't need in terms of -- I mean, we have 15,000 people --

I'm so tired of hearing about New York. We don't do everything that everybody else does.

That's true.

Let 48 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 me just ask you a question. If the test is given every two years, how do we still save or how do we generate revenues of $600,000 every year?

The laborer applicants were not included in our number.

I thought every Civil Service list was good for two years.

That's correct. But we test -- the large holding, the biggest holding, is laborer and police recruit, and we don't test for laborer every year. We test every other year. Right now we've been testing for police every year.

Councilman Nutter, you can take it.

Thank you. So let's walk through this. A person shows up. If you use Councilman Goode's example, they were on unemployment, their unemployment has now run out, they show up to take the test, they're not on public assistance and they don't have the money. 49 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 What happens?

Unless they're applying for a difficult-to-recruit position, then they don't apply. We don't accept their application.

Well, they're probably not going to be applying for the physician exemption, that's for sure. Let's say that they are on unemployment, but they don't bring their document that day. They miss the broadcast on the web site, because I don't know, maybe their computer was down or something. What happens?

Most of our announcements are open for at least two weeks. Some of them for longer.

So they come back?

That's correct. They can mail it. They don't have to walk in.

Okay. And suppose in the first year of implementation the program is just wildly successful and the 50 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 word goes out, application fee, hiring freeze, all of that. I mean, you cut your frivolous, what you're referring to as frivolous applications, to five percent. What happens to your revenue?

Our revenue projections are based on an assumption that we will have less applicants.

I thought Mr. Dubow said that the five-year plan was carrying 600,000.

That's because our initial assumption is low.

What do you mean? Your initial assumption of what?

Using our average number of applicants and multiplying by 35, this is without promotional, without laborer, actually amounts to $824,765.

Okay.

So we've actually projected a lower figure.

I understand. And you're not charging 51 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 promotional?

That number doesn't even include -- that number that I gave you is strictly open competitive calculation.

Will people have to pay a fee to take a promotional exam?

Yes, they will.

So you're saying a public employee who is presently on the payroll, if they want to take a promotional exam, they have to pay a fee?

Yes. We have frivolous applications there as well.

I know that we're in tough times and we have to try to be as creative as possible, but I have to tell you that there is just something about this that both doesn't feel right and just seems like it's wrong, and that there must be any number of other ways to cut down on what is being characterized as frivolous applications. We actually, I think, because I've not heard any testimony about this, we 52 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 actually don't know why so many people decide not to take the test. Maybe they were lucky enough to find other employment, although that's a whole other story given the job situation here. Maybe they've looked into some other opportunity. But both on the front end as a deterrent, I mean, it seems to me that one of the reasons you get a lot of people trying to pursue a limited number of jobs is because people are desperately seeking employment in a city where they know that the government already has a hiring freeze. I mean, some of the same people who are probably filling out our applications are also probably spending a fair amount of time in the lottery line, which at the present state, you probably have a better chance of hitting a few of the numbers at 7 o'clock at night than you have in getting a job with the City of Philadelphia. So they're just taking a chance and then something else happens in the interim. But it just seems that there really is something wrong about -- and I'm not 53 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 commenting on any other government. Each situation is different, but solely as a means where your dual purpose as a means to discourage people for applying for jobs in their government and, second, as a revenue generator, that somehow we're actually banking on revenue in our five-year plan as a part of our financial situation is just a step or two short of absurd. And you're saying that you can do this by regulation and that you don't need any approval from City Council to do this?

That's correct.

Has the regulation been put forward?

No, it has not been put forward yet.

When will it be put forward?

Most likely it will be on the May agenda of the Civil Service Commission.

And the way that process works is, a regulation goes to 54 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 the Commission, the Commission takes action and then it sits over in the Records Department for 30 days?

After the Commission takes action, the Ad Board has to approve it, then it sits over for 30 days for comment.

Okay. Last page of your testimony, this is my last question, you talked about "the Personnel Department again partnered with the Finance Department to hire consultants to assist in evaluating our existing medical plans and negotiate rates with our health plan providers." Can you give us your perspective on how many health plan providers do we have at the moment?

We have one medical provider, two prescription providers, two dental providers and one vision provider.

Who are the two prescription providers? I thought we only had one. 55 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455

One prescription provider, two dental. I'm sorry. It's one prescription.

I thought you said two. And why is it that we only have one medical?

In the year 2000 or 2001, the City went all Blue, because Blue Cross gave the City a better rate. Also, there are very few medical providers in the area.

Aren't they projecting a rather significant rate increase?

Pardon me?

Aren't they projecting a rather significant rate increase for us?

Across the country, all over, medical costs are skyrocketing. But there really aren't -- there are very few other medical providers in this region that have the network and the hospitals that compare and can compete with 56 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 Blue Cross.

Well, is that because they kind of wrapped all the rest of that business up as well?

At one time there were several HMOs. They merged. You know, a lot of things happened. U.S. Healthcare went away.

Right. Okay. The 7,500 City employees that you administer the comprehensive benefits program for, we in City Council are part of that 7,500; is that correct?

That's correct.

Now, who represents our interests or concerns as it relates to the healthcare plan that we have?

Who represents? I'm sorry. I don't understand.

Does anyone in particular represent our interests? Obviously, the union employees get representation about their healthcare by their respective unions. We're then in a 57 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 non-represented class. You go out and procure the services for us.

Correct.

What I'm asking is, who is responsible for working with this group of about 200 people on what healthcare benefits we get?

There's no 10 medical board for the procurement of medical benefits for this group. The only union people that are covered are union DROPs. There's no representation for any particular constituency in this group.

So we just get whatever you negotiate and no one ever talks to us about what our interests are or our needs are or our concerns?

As a general rule, I meet with the President to discuss where we are in negotiations and what our options are going to be before we make final decisions.

I was going to say that sounds like, This is what we're 58 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 doing, this is what you're going to get and we'll let you know when it gets done, as opposed to what happens in the rest of the government. I guess what I'm suggesting to you is that -- I mean, I know we're kind of a small group and kind of a little lower on the totem pole, but it would just be nice if we had a higher level of contact than it's -- what do you call that period in December?

Open enrollment.

Right. It's open enrollment, get your form in by the end of the week or you'll have no healthcare. I mean, that's about the extent of the contact --

No. We've had representation on our RFP process from City Council as well.

Okay. I think there needs to be a little more contact with the rest of us. You're going to get us an updated 59 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 list on the out-of-City employees?

That's correct.

Great. Thank you, Madam President.

You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.

I want to follow up on something Councilman Nutter just said. There are a few of us, I think very few, that have come from the private sector, and as retired from that sector, don't require the City's medical insurance or coverage. I don't. And I get a chuckle every year when I get this little check for a few hundred dollars that's supposed to compensate for the fact that I don't take any medical coverage from the City of Philadelphia. I'm not asking for me personally, but I'm asking. I don't know how many people are in that category. I assume a few. Maybe some of the people on this list that you 60 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 provided today that are exempt from City residency. Could you send some information to the Chair on how you calculate the value of a year's worth of medical coverage being 4, $500?

That isn't the value of the medical. It's not a question of -- I mean, it's not a calculation based on that. It's actually a number that had been determined as a fiscal measure more than anything else.

Could that be revisited, or whose responsibility is it to revisit that? Because that is kind of like inappropriate.

In the City's current status, fiscal status, I don't think the Budget Bureau would be very inclined to increase that number.

I didn't say increase it. I said look at it to be realistic. It is inappropriate, in my 61 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 opinion -- if a person waives their coverage, has no medical coverage or no expense to the City, either there should be a zero check or an appropriate amount. I just have been curious about that for a lot of years and now that Councilman Nutter asked a question in that area, I thought I would just -- I think it really needs to be -- the policy might be 25, 30 years old and never been revisited, and I don't think that the people that waive insurance should be responsible to entirely help the fiscal condition. I think the Administration could fix the fiscal condition of the City by doing some things that need to get done. The program where people are going to apply and have to pay this fee, will you accept a credit card?

We're not equipped to accept that yet.

Why?

The City is moving in that direction, but we're not there yet. 62 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455

Because the Register of Wills was here yesterday and he indicated that he accepts credit cords.

Certain entities have already worked it out. This is brand new, so we haven't gotten to that point yet.

So could you include that in there? I think that would be convenient.

I think that's something that we'll be working with down the line.

And I think I will speak out against a person that is employed by the City, a sergeant that wants to become a lieutenant and wants to take a promotional exam, to have to pay for the right to advance within their corporation or their city. I think that's kind of ridiculous to include that. So I'd like to express my displeasure with that. I would never want to discourage someone. Because part of the process, as you 63 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 know, Ms. Orfanelli, is learning how to take a test. And many people who take a test don't succeed the first time. They take it a second time and they do much better. So I wouldn't want to discourage any City employee. And if you would like, share the numbers of these frivolous examinations that you call frivolous, how many of those, because I think that's not a good strategy, to charge people to take an employment advancement test. Please tell me about internships. I was also surprised to find out that many of our operating departments hire interns, and I don't know whether they're internships that are with no compensation associated with it, but I understand that we're hiring a group of interns, Water Department, from outside the City. Could you tell me why that would be?

Well, for example, the Water Department hires a lot of interns from Drexel University. So they are here in the City while they're in college, but their permanent address may be Seattle, 64 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 Washington.

Not in the summertime.

They use that co-op program all year round.

But I'm talking about summer employment.

I don't know about their summer employment.

So you're telling me --

I know about the Drexel co-op program and I know they hire them in the summer as well.

A person that goes to Villanova University, suburban, right?

Right.

Lives in the suburbs, hired as an intern.

Ms. Orfanelli, I think Mr. Dubow would like to respond.

We do have a summer 65 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 internship program, but it is unpaid, and I think there are people from all over who apply.

That's fine. As long as it's for experience. And hopefully we can recruit some of these people also, correct?

We try.

Do we have any internships that are compensated?

Well, I think there are, the ones the Personnel Director was talking about. But the summer internship that you were talking about where there are people from all over the county, that's an unpaid internship.

I want to finish up with Ms. Orfanelli. So we have an internship like the co-op program from Drexel that a person is living here in the City?

While they're in school.

While 66 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 they're in school.

I mean, they may end up being recruited and come and work for us and move into Philadelphia.

Do you think it's a significant number of people that are in that situation? Do you have a feel for it?

It's not a huge number, no. 11

Like we didn't have a huge number here either.

Right.

But I'm concerned that our young people that live here are getting first opportunities for some of these internships, because I've gotten some letters from people telling me that they were denied an opportunity for an internship that live here in the City. And then I do a little research and find out that there's a bunch scheduled to come from outside the City, and I don't like that.

I understand.

I'd like our 67 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 kids to get first opportunities.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

You're welcome. Are there any other questions from Members of the Committee, any comments? (No response.)

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

When do you think we can get the list that we requested?

It will take us about two days.

Thank you. The Free Library is next. I see Reverend Goode is sitting in the back of the room. I would just like to say welcome.

Thank you. 68 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455

Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Thank you. I'm Elliot Shelkrot. I'm President and Director of the Free Library of Philadelphia. And with me this morning is Kevin Vaughan, the Associate Director of the Library; Helen Miller, who is our Director of Public Services.

Welcome.

And Bill 15 Flemming, who is our Administrative Services Director. And you did acknowledge that Reverend Goode, who is the Chair of our Board of Trustees, is here. I also might point out that Peter Benoliel, the Chair of the Library Foundation, is with us.

Welcome.

And Marcy Madeline, a long-time supporter, former member of our Board and a long-time supporter of 69 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 libraries and other things about reading. I'm not going to read my whole testimony. I am just going to --

If you would abbreviate it, we will certainly give a copy of your testimony to the stenographer and she will transcribe it in full.

Okay. That would be fine. (Please see attached.)

Great.

I just thought I would mention some items that I believe are important that Council would like to know, and I appreciate that we are here. As you know, I'm the President and Director of the Free Library where people, I'm pleased to say, are borrowing more than ever before in the history of the library, and that it's the same place that you know many City dollars, as well as state and private dollars, are spent for important services to children, 70 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 teens and families and communities all over the City. Today we are requesting a total budget of $45,743,000. 2 million in grant revenue, which comes from the Commonwealth. 25, for the Mayor's commission on literacy, which will become part of the Free Library as of July 1st. This past year has been a challenging year but a good year in many ways. First, a few of the highlights. Some of the highs this year were in the circulation of materials, the number of visitors to our libraries, the number of volunteer hours and the number of children, nearly 54,000, who participated in the summer reading program last summer. The use of the computer and the web hits continues to amaze us. It's reached nearly 60 million hits as Philadelphians 71 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 continue to discover the many uses of the library's web site. I'm also pleased to say that this past January Reverend Goode and I and some staff were in the White House where First Lady Laura Bush presented to the Free Library what is regarded as the nation's highest honor for a library, the National Award for Library Services, and she praised our libraries as exemplary learning institutions that have strengthened the foundations of the community. We are making progress on our renovations. Nearly complete in all branch renovations, with the Walnut West Library and the Widener branches scheduled to open later in fiscal year 2004 -- later in calendar year, excuse me, 2004 even. And we are focusing, as many of you know, on the renovation expansion of the Central library. In December, the Mayor announced the selection of Moshe Safdie as the architect for this urgently needed project. Mr. Safdie's past projects include main libraries in Salt Lake City and in Vancouver. He has built the 72 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 National Gallery in Ottawa and has done major projects all over the world, and we're very impressed with his understanding of the potential of a new library. The library is not just a place that stores books, but the role of a library in the modern day is to encourage people to come in, to reach out, to bring light in both the literal as well as the intellectual sense to people. Financing the Central library will be a combination of public and private money, much as our branch renovations were, and the Mayor, as you may recall, has committed City support of $30 million towards this, and the Library Foundation will conduct a capital campaign for additional public and private funds. This last year was a year in which security issues took the front place throughout the library, and, of course, this is a result of the assault on a young girl at our Independence library. And we've taken a large-scale review of security policies and 73 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 procedures in every one of our 55 libraries. At all locations staff immediately reviewed such procedures as how the restroom keys are handled, that they are not just left on the librarian's desk, but they, in fact, are put in a drawer and out of the way, and in some cases, depending on the local situation, it is the security guard who handles that to be sure that we have a closer control of what is going on. We have a vendor of security staff in addition to our regular personnel, but this is to fill in when there are vacancies or when we don't have our own security person, and that vendor has been changed to provide a better and more continuous service.

This is in no way to indicate that there was no 19 security available at Independence branch at that time. That was working very well, but when an issue such as occurred last February, looking at our security staff and our process is a big part of that. A variety of other things have occurred already, but I do want to let you 74 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 know that our task force on security composed of library staff, the Philadelphia Police Department and -- our staff, I should say, includes union representation -- has been meeting on a weekly basis. Kevin Vaughan has been the Chair of that committee. I believe they have finished their last meeting today, and we will be preparing a report, which should be out early in June. The task forces work with the District Attorney's office, as well as the Law Department to study what our -- the kinds of things and get a better understanding for us on what are those things that should be referred to the police and what are the things that our security staff might be able to handle. And we also have been looking very closely at best practices in libraries around the country and taking up ideas also from our own staff. I'd like to mention for a moment some of the things that we are doing with children. Our main early childhood initiative is the Books Aloud Program, which we believe 75 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 is the City's premiere program for early literacy training. The City funded this at $85,000 last year. It's called Books Aloud, and it focuses on training some 3,000 child care staff and parents in effective use of books and working with young children. It also participates in the early literacy program of United Way and will be doing so with the School District's Early Reading First Program, which is operated by the School District's Office of Early Childhood. 3 million in the LEAP, our after-school program, in every one of our branches. And it provides homework help for children, as well as teenagers. And a survey that we did last year indicated that there were some 85,000 kids who have participated in that after-school program. That's different children have been in that program during the year. It focuses, in addition to helping youngsters learn to use the computer and to 76 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 find the best information they can, it also has special cultural programs and, as I said before, homework help. We're now beginning a two-year project of evaluating the outcomes. We know what goes into the program. We know what kind of courses they have, what kind of classes they have, but we want to see what is it actually doing in terms of increasing literacy, increasing reading and library use. And we're also looking at the same thing with our youth program that works with teenagers. In the area of technology, we have two new items to report. An overhaul is going on right now of our web site to make sure that it is easy for people to use, that people want to come back to it. The ways that people navigate the site is being changed and it will provide a much greater flexibility. We also are looking at what the content is and how the content can be best accessed. A lot of the funding for this is occurring through private funds that we've been able to raise in excess of a quarter 77 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 million dollars, I might say. The second technology initiative is the expected completion in fiscal '05 of upgrading our basic library system that is online; in other words, the catalogue, looking up items, the circulation records and so on. And new services are being added now, which will be even easier to use, renewing books by telephone and easier search procedures. We have, of course, had to manage with fewer resources.

As you know, the state budget cut hit us very, very severely this last year, and I'm sure many of you are aware that we have temporarily stopped buying most new materials in December and will resume buying those materials when the new fiscal budget period begins. We have also through new contract been able to -- will be upgrading our PCs in our branches, but that will result in a reduction of our leasing costs of somewhere near $190,000. At the Central library, we've merged several departments, the theatre collection 78 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 and the rare book collection, as well as -- and that in itself enabled us to save $70,000 in staff costs. We've reduced costs in our Processing division and our Office of Public Service Support, and cut the staff in those units percent, and we will be reengineering 9 our Homebound Service to save another $100,000 10 through staff reassignment. 11 And as you know, we are looking for 12 ways to raise revenue, and the Mayor has asked 13 us to consider very seriously the charging of 14 users for borrowing videos and DVDs. 15 In sum up, I want to use the words 16 of Charles Dickens in the Tale of Two Cities. 17 It's the best of times and it's the worst of 18 times. This is a time when we are serving 19 more people than ever before, which is what a 20 library is all about. At the same time, the budget cuts that we are facing from the state and the budget crisis in the City is forcing us to cut back in so many different areas. But we know that budget crises do pass, that over periods of time budgets become 79 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 a little more flexible and other times they become a little more stringent. So we are focusing on planning for the future while we are tightening our belts today. And that includes the technology changes that we are making, as well as the exciting state-of-the-art Central library, which will vastly improve its ability to meet the needs of Philadelphians, not only in the Center City neighborhood in which it resides, but for our libraries across the City, to provide a lively and make sure that all of our libraries are lively and open and encouraging people to come in, to use the resources. Because we believe that not only boosts the community, it boosts education, boosts economic development and will enhance significantly the Parkway. And I thank you for your time and welcome questions.

Thank you. Thank you very much for all the fine work you do. Mr. Shelkrot, you mention in your testimony that you are being reduced from 705 80 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 general fund positions in FY04 to 699 in FY05. However, you were budgeted for 738 positions in FY04, not 705. So our calculation is that you're really being reduced by 39 general positions, they're full-time positions. Would you agree with us, if you look at the budget?

No. 9

Do you have the budget book before you?

Yes, I do. I believe the difference in those two numbers is one of the most recent payrolls, which indicated -- an April payroll count, which indicated 705. And so my testimony reflects the number of people --

But weren't you budgeted for 738 positions in FY04?

Yes.

So calculate for me. How many positions are you actually losing?

We are losing 700 and -- we're losing 39, I believe it is, 81 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 yes.

So we both come to the same number.

Yes, we do.

Went around and around, but we came to the same spot. What are the position titles of the 39 and what operational units are they being taken from?

The positions that have been eliminated so far have been done through attrition. So for me to identify at this time specifically which positions, I can't do that. I could get that later on. We are now going through a reshuffling of those positions so that we aren't filling all of the ones -- matter of fact, when we fill a position, we try to see where it is most needed. So to look at the decrease that we have seen so far doesn't really reflect the positions that have been eliminated. It really reflects the people who have retired or 82 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 left for another position. But I can -- the challenge for us is how we --

Operate with 39 less positions.

That is correct. And the bigger -- we have been very fortunate over the years, because often when City budget was cutting things back, we were able to use more state money, and as you know, at this time, we're being faced with both the state and the City reduction.

How much funding did you lose from state aid?

This past year, we lost 3.9 -- well, it went from 4.7 in this current year to 3.9 million. The projection for next year will restore some of that money, so that we will be at approximately about a third, it will be 30 percent down from where we were two years ago.

How many emergency library closings do we have due to staff shortages?

It, of course, 83 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 varies over time. We have seen an increasing trend in those spot closings as our number of staff is reduced through attrition. I believe we are now at a rate of about 100 spot closings a month throughout the City.

100 a month? And you do have libraries that are closed on Saturday. I assume that's because of the lack of staff?

Yes, that is correct. We try to move that around to various parts of the City, but there are definitely libraries that are closed on Saturdays.

And you say that we have 100 a month that are closed. We use emergency library closings due to staff. Is that what I understand?

Yes, that is correct.

And are you satisfied with that?

No, I am not. However, this is -- we do not want to close 84 Whole - 5/4/04 - Bill No. 020455 libraries.

If that's what you have now, how many will you have when you have 39 less employees?

Well, as my testimony pointed out, we have already lost many of those. In the last payroll, we were down to that 705 figure that was in my testimony. So I do not believe that there will be a continued loss. As a matter of fact, I believe that there will be a slight increase in the number of staff that we have, considering where we are absolutely today as opposed to when the testimony was drafted.

Point of information.

The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo for a point of information.