DEP Environmental Protection Invoices, 1999-2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

February 5,2001

The Honorable Adam L. Barsky Director Department of Office of Management and Budget Environmental 75 Park Place - 6'h Floor FEB 09 2000 Protection New York, New York 10007 of-©ogi3 59-17 junction Boulevard Corona, New York 11368-5107 Dear Mr. Barsky:

I am writing to request a meeting to discuss proposals to resolve Personal Service budget shortfalls and headcount constraints that are now severely limiting Joel A. Miele Sr., P.E. Commissioner the Department of Environmental Protection's ability to hire staff critical to meeting our mandates.

DEP has an authorized headcount of 5998 ( 286 City-funded; 4889 Water -aiid Sewer expense funded; and 823 IFA positions funded by Water Authority bonds). The Agency averages 440 vacancies (15 City-funded; 275 Water & Sewer expense funded; and 150 IFA positions). Even with such a large "vacancy cushion" our PS budget faces annual deficits. Each fiscal year millions in OTPS funds must be transferred to the PS budget to offset PS shortfalls. $9.9 million was transferred from the OTPS budget to the PS budget in FY 2000. At Adoption, both OMB and DEP projected an FY 2001 PS deficit of $16 million if the Agency reached full headcount.

1; In the last four Executive Budgets, OMB approved and funded headcount enhancements, but then required the Agency to reallocate existing vacancies to offset those "new" positions (with the exception of the Environmental Police and the Right-to-Know program). From FY 1998 through FY 2001 the Agency has reallocated vacancies to offset 216 "enhancements". This resource reallocation strategy has become counterproductive: vacancies which we are unable to fill due to budget constraints are shuffled from one critical area to another.

We have found ourselves in an untenable situation: The Personal Service budget cannot fully support DEP's expenditures and OMB is therefore approving new hires and promotions on practically a case-by-case basis. The Agency had 496 vacancies in December 2000 and 550 in January 2001, but had over 300 new hires and an equal number of promotions languishing in the pipeline. When approved, these new hires would virtually eliminate all Water and Sewer funded expense vacancies. Due to the inability to fill critical positions, overtime expenditures are escalating, further exacerbating the PS problem. Further, we continue to face new mandates (e.g., the upstate hazardous materials cleanup) requiring additional staff, as opposed to reallocating staff from one critical area to another.

NYC-WTC 000137858