Government of the District of Columbia
DC Department of Public Works

Testimony of William O. Howland, Jr., Director

"Fiscal Year 2014 Proposed Budget and Financial Plan for the Department of Public Works"

COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Mary M. Cheh, Chairperson


John A. Wilson Building
Room 500
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004
April 12, 2013 
TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM O. HOWLAND, JR.
DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS
ON THE
“FISCAL YEAR 2014 PROPOSED BUDGET AND FINANCIAL PLAN FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS”
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT
FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2013/11 AM

Introduction
Good morning, Chairperson Cheh, members of the Council and staff.  I am William O. Howland, Jr., Director of the Department of Public Works.  Thank you for this opportunity to present Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s FY 2014 Proposed Budget and Financial Plan for the Department of Public Works.

When Mayor Gray proposed the FY 2014 budget, he said our past sacrifices to ensure fiscal responsibility, now allow us make investments to boost the quality of life for all District residents.  

DPW’s proposed FY14 budget of $139,791,839 is aligned with Mayor Gray’s overall goals detailed in the Mayor’s One City Action Plan: 1) Grow and Diversify the District’s Economy; 2) Educate and Prepare the Workforce for the New Economy; and 3) Improve the Quality of Life for All.

First, I would like to cite the services DPW provides that this budget will support.

In FY 2014, 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.
• Clearing streets of snow and ice.
• 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 2012, we:  

• Collected about 96,000 tons of trash and 34,000 tons of recyclables.  
• Recovered about 70 tons of e-waste and 120 tons of shredded paper.
• Composted more than 7,000 tons of leaves.
• Made more than 47,000 bulk collections.
• Collected more than 2,500 tons of trash, debris and pollutants by sweeping District streets.
• And we removed more 16,000 vehicles that impeded rush hour traffic flow.

Proposed FY 2014 Budget
The proposed FY 2014 budget for DPW is $139,791,839, a 4.7 percent increase over the current fiscal year budget of $133,541,305 and one additional FTE over FY 2013 (1,377 FTEs in FY13 and 1,378 FTEs in FY14).

The proposed FY 2014 budget consists of:

• $110,691,000 in Local funds.
• $7,780,000 in Special Purpose Revenue funds, and
• $21,321,000 in Intra-District funds.

I would like to highlight certain aspects of the Mayor’s proposed budget for DPW.  

Starting with $2 million in the FY14 budget, Mayor Gray will initiate a five-year, $10 million plan to replace all 96-gallon Supercans, 32-gallon trash cans and 32-gallon recycling cans.  Between FY14 and FY15, we will refresh our entire stock of Supercans, and between FY16 and FY18, we will do the same for our 32-gallon trash cans and recycling cans.

More than 70,000 households use Supercans for their once-a-week trash collections.  Many of these cans are 10 or more years old.  They have exceeded their useful lifespan, and the manufacturer no longer makes the parts we can use to repair them.  

While the 32-gallon trash cans and recycling cans became part of our inventory around 2005, they, too, are in need of replacement.  DPW has expanded the list of recyclables over the past eight years.  The blue containers are too small for what should be recycled.  

Finally, in the twice-a-week trash collection neighborhoods, many residents continue to use the round, conventional trash cans, which are more than 10 years old.

Mayor Gray also is taking the next step to assist Bloomingdale and LeDroit Park residents whose properties flooded during heavy rain storms by proposing $55,000 to fund sandbags.  Providing these sandbags is among the recommendations made by the Mayor’s Bloomingdale/Le Droit Park Flood Prevention Task Force.

An important, yet not well-known service, is hauling and disposing of the trash collected in the District.  By adding $1,720,000 to our budget for these costs, we will right-size how we finance this service.  Another sanitation-related service – street litter cans – will receive a $128,000 boost in FY14 to rat-proof the bottom of the 4,600 cans with metal plates.

In conclusion, the Department of Public Works is prepared to do its part to fulfill Mayor Gray’s commitment to improve the quality of life for District residents.

Thank you.  I am prepared to respond to your questions.