Government of the District of Columbia
DC Department of Public Works

Testimony of
William O. Howland Jr.
Director

“Fiscal Year 2012 Proposed Budget and Financial Plan for the DPW”

COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS AND TRANSPORTATION
Tommy Wells, Chairperson

John A. Wilson Building
Room 412
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004

Wednesday, April 13, 2011 / 10 am

Introduction

Good morning, Chairman Wells, members of the Committee and staff. I am William O. Howland, Jr., Director of the Department of Public Works. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the Mayor’s proposed FY 2012 budget for the Department of Public Works.

When presenting his budget, Mayor Gray emphasized that this spending plan embodies his commitment to fiscal stability, to live within our means and take the necessary steps to eliminate the $322.1 million budget gap projected for FY 2012.

As he stated, for the first time in four years, the budget is structurally balanced without using the District’s fund balance. Starting in FY 2012, the District will pay for its expenditures with its available revenue because we are One City Rising to the Challenge.

The Department of Public Works’ contribution to fiscal stability focuses our resources on what we do best. Mayor Gray identified a clean city with a superior public works program as one of his highest priorities, and the proposed cost savings will not affect DPW’s ability to perform its core services.

In FY 2012, DPW will deliver our core sanitation, parking and fleet services to achieve our mission of providing environmentally healthy municipal services that are both ecologically sound and cost effective.

To that end, DPW serves all District residents, businesses, visitors and commuters by:

• Collecting trash and recycling from almost 105,000 households, which translates into 250,000 collections per week.
• Promoting efficient traffic flow along the District’s commercial corridors to support our retail and other business establishments.
• Assuring residents’ access to neighborhood on-street spaces by enforcing parking regulations.
• Maintaining 3,000 vehicles, and fueling more than 6,000 DC government vehicles, including those for MPD, Fire/Emergency Medical Services, DC Public Schools and the Water and Sewer Authority.

In FY 2010, we:

• Collected 98,000 tons of trash and 29,000 tons of residential recyclables.
• Recovered 109 tons of e-waste and 118 tons of shredded paper.
• Composted more than 5,300 tons of leaves.
• Made more than 51,000 bulk collections.
• Collected more than 2,100 tons of trash, debris and pollutants by sweeping District streets.
• And we removed more 21,000 vehicles that impeded rush hour traffic flow.

Proposed FY 2012 Budget

Now, I would like to provide the details of the proposed FY 2012 budget.

The proposed FY 2012 budget is $127,606,561, which will support 1,340.9 FTEs. This represents a 3.8 percent increase in funds and a 6.2 percent reduction in FTEs when compared to the current fiscal year.

Trash and recycling collections, nuisance abatement, street sweeping, and leaf removal programs will continue at the same level in FY 2012. That also applies to focused litter control programs in Adams Morgan, the U Street Neighborhood, and the H Street Corridor. The graffiti removal program will remain strong.

The Fleet Management Administration will operate at full capacity, providing preventive and unscheduled maintenance, fuel management, and vehicle acquisition. The DC FleetShare motor pool program, which allows efficient sharing of vehicles among District agencies, also will continue in FY 2012.

Parking enforcement will remain intact as it relates to protecting neighborhoods and assisting with rush-hour traffic flow. We are preserving strong enforcement of residential permit parking (RPP), street sweeping enforcement, ROSA (Register Out-of-State Automobiles) and rush-hour towing

I was guided in my decision-making to act upon the overall need to achieve fiscal stability and, at the same time, identify those services that make DPW the preferred choice.

The Mayor noted that failure to make financially responsible decisions to “rightsize” the structural gap in the District’s budget could result in:

• A downgrade in the District’s bond rating.
• Increased congressional interference in District affairs.
• Or loss of Home Rule and the return to a Financial Control Board.

None of these outcomes is acceptable.

DPW’s strength comes from our commitment to the team and the belief that everyone has value. We have used technology to streamline operations and we introduced more effective means of enforcement, such as taking parking officers out of cars and putting them on Segways and mountain bikes.

The net 88 FTE reductions in FY12, total $4.7 million, which is the sum of $2.8 million from the Solid Waste Management Administration budget and $1.9 million from the

Parking Enforcement Management Administration budget. There is no change in Fleet’s FTEs between this year and next.

The 88 FTE reductions are distributed as follows:

• 38 FTEs from the Solid Waste Management Administration
• 31 FTEs from the Parking Enforcement Management Administration.
• 20 FTEs are vacant positions.
• The additional FTE for snow offsets one reduced FTE.

DPW also has been charged with leading the District’s snow and ice removal program. As a result, $5,322,454 and one FTE were transferred from DDOT. Transfer of authority for this program to DPW acknowledges that our street and alley staff, in particular those who work in the leaf collection program, form the backbone of the snow program.

In years past, we met our budget mark by eliminating 43 administrative position vacancies between FY 2008 and 2010. In FY 2012, there are not enough vacancies to fulfill our budget mandate; therefore, we will, as Mayor Gray says, cut into the marrow.

DPW Strategic Plan – Roadmap to the Future

The District’s budget gaps for FY 2011 and 2012 were known last spring and inspired us to initiate the strategic planning process to guide our decision making. I assembled managers from across the Department for a series of frank and productive sessions that identified goals, measures and timeframes for accomplishing those goals.

We narrowed our focus to identify six strategic goals that address how to:

• Re-engineer the District’s solid waste disposal strategy.
• Inspire the best work outcomes from DPW employees.
• Achieve significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
• And promote successful collaboration with other agencies to meet performance and customer service targets.

I will be happy to keep you and the Committee informed of our progress.

This concludes my testimony. Thank you, Chairman Wells, for providing this opportunity to discuss the DPW proposed FY 2012 budget. I am ready to respond to questions.