March Headcount Memo - Nassau County, NY

ERIC C. NAUGHTONDIRECTOROFFICE OF LEGISLATIVEBUDGET REVIEWNASSAUCOUNTYLEGISLATUREONE WEST STREETMINEOLA,NEW YORK 11501(516) 571-6292Inter-Departmental MemoTo:Hon. Diane Yatauro,PresidingOfficerHon. PeterSchmitt,Minority LeaderHon. JudithJacobs,Chairperson,BudgetReviewCommitteeAll Membersof the NassauCountyLegislature eI-1From: Eric C. Naughton,DirectorLegislative BudgetReviewDate: March20, 2008Please fmd the March 2008 Staffing and Salary Analysis, which reports the FY 08 budgeted fulltime headcount compared to the actual on board full-time headcount as of March 1, 2008 and theFY 08 budgeted salaries compared to the Office of Legislative Budget Review (OLBR) FY 08projected salaries.As shown in AttachmentA, the GeneralFund budgetis 5,564positions with 5,265 filled as ofMarch 1, 2008, resulting in 299 vacancies. The budgeted headcountdiffers from OMB'sheadcountdue to sometechnical adjustmentswhich have beenidentified and footnoted at theend of the attachedspreadsheet.The 2008 projectedsalariesinclude current salariesand stepincreases. They also include attrition savingsfor the Police Departmentand the CorrectionalCenter. OLBR's salaryprojectiondoesnot includethe costof newhires exceptfor the new classof 34 Police Officer recruitswho are scheduledto startMarch28, 2008. The Administrationhasstatedthat theyplan to hire 30 CorrectionOfficers which is not includedin the projectedsalaries.In the major funds, the 394 full time vacantpositions are contributing to a surplusof 13.2million which is partially offset by a deficit of 1.3 million in the Police District. The vacantpositionsin the GeneralFund are contributing to a surplusof 12.3 million. The Sewerand

Storm Water Resource District has a full-time budget of 348 with 292 filled as of March 1, 2008,and a projected surplus of 2.9 million.The attached Staffing and Salary Analysis highlight departments with significant vacancies. Thedepartments included in the following analysis are the Probation department with 23 vacancies,the Health department at 19, the Police Department at 87, the Office of County Clerk at 13vacancies, the department of Public Works at 47 and the Department of Social Services with 41.Status of UnionsShOAShOA has been without a contract since December 31, 2004. A new Memorandum ofAgreement (MOA) between the County and the union has recently been settled and terms of thecontract will be detailed in the Office of Legislative Budget Review’s (OLBR) review of thecontract. The MOA was ratified by members on March 14, 2008.DAIThe DAI contract expired December 31, 2006. A new DAI award, effective January 1, 2008, hasrecently been settled and an impending Amending Award has yet to be disseminated and thusanalyzed. After the amended award has been finalized, the terms of the contract will be detailedin OLBR’s review of the contract. The FY 08 projected salaries do not include the impact of thenew DAI award.CSEA and SOAThe CSEA and SOA contracts expired on December 31, 2007 and both unions are currently innegotiations with the County for a new contract. If an agreement is not reached with the SOA,the parties have already agreed on an arbitration panel, which has been approved by theLegislature.IPBAThe Nassau County Investigators Police Benevolent Association (IPBA) union has been innegotiations with the County for over three years. On December 1, 2004, the District Attorney’sOffice Investigators separated from the CSEA union to form the Nassau County InvestigatorsPolice Benevolent Association (IPBA) union. The IPBA union includes Special Investigators,Investigative Coordinators, Financial Investigators, Environmental Conservation Investigators,Electronic Surveillance Investigators and a Detective Investigator. Their benefits and salarieshave been following the same terms as the CSEA contract.cc:Hon. Howard Weitzman, County ComptrollerMartha Wong, Acting Director, OMBEvan Cohen, Director, NIFADan McCloy, Special Assistant MinorityTom Stokes, Deputy County ExecutiveCharo Ezdrin, Director of Legislative AffairsRoseann D’Alleva, Majority FinanceEdgar Campbell, Chief of Staff

Staffing and SalaryAnalysisOFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE BUDGET REVIEWHealth DepartmentAs of March 1st, the Health Department’s full-timeheadcount of 221 results in 19 vacant positionscompared to the FY 08 Adopted Budget. Thesevacant positions are contributing to a projectedsalary surplus of 1.2 million. The following chartdetails the FY 08 budgeted headcount, March 1actual headcount and vacant positions byresponsibility center.Department of HealthResponsibility NameAdministrationEnvironmental HealthPublic Health LaboratoriesDirector Community Health SvcsHIV BureauDivision of Disease ControlChildren Early Intervention SvcsPre-School EducationTotalFY08Budgeted March 08 VacantHeadcount Headcount 119Of the 19 vacant positions, eight or 42% reside inEnvironmental Health, five in Children EarlyIntervention Services, and three in AdministrationServices.The department has recently received approval fromthe Administration to fill four clerical positions,three Early Intervention Service Coordinators andfour Sanitarians. If hired, these positions will beoffset by attrition since the department continues tolose more positions than hired. Annually thedepartment has lost an average of 13 employees.The department plans to hire Public Health Nursesto fill the Early Intervention Service Coordinatorand Medical Social Worker vacancies in ChildrenEarly Intervention Services. The Public HealthMARCH 2008 ISSUENurse is a more desirable title since the nurse canfulfill additional responsibilities in other areas of theHealth Department such as Disease Control. TwoPublic Health Nurses have recently been hired, one ofwhom is due on board in two weeks. The target dateto fill the third position is April 2008.The department is also recruiting Sanitarians forEnvironmental Health, which protects the communityfrom adverse health affects and diseases that mayresult from environmental pollution, unsanitaryconditions, unsafe practices or infections of diseases.The remaining vacant positions in EnvironmentalHealth include two Clerks and one Public HealthEngineer.ProbationOLBR projects the Probation department will have asurplus in the FY 08 salary budget of approximately 1.5 million. The surplus is due to 23 vacant positionsmainly Probation Officers and Supervisors.The 23 vacant positions have impaired thedepartment’s operations. The March 2008 full-timeheadcount of 217 represents a decrease of 22 full-timepositions from the same time last year.Thedepartment has lost seasoned officers that handledmental health caseloads, arresting officers, and clerksthat collect fees for the County. This has caused otheremployees in the department to work overtime to fillin for staff shortages, to cover other personnel andperform work they are unfamiliar with. In FY 07, theovertime cost was 1.1 million creating a budgetshortfall of 575,000.In FY08, the Office ofLegislative Budget Review (OLBR) projects theovertime to equal the FY 07 cost, exceeding the 2008budget by about 350,000.The following chart illustrates the vacant positions foreach responsibility center:

Page 2Department of ProbationResponsibility NameDirectors OfficeResearch & Staff DevelopmentCriminal Division AdministrationFamily Division AdministrationPB-DSS Joint Project For Pins*TotalFY08Budgeted March 08 Vacant March 07Headcount Headcount Positions 23239* The 9 employees under Pins were reassigned (mostly within family division) because theProbabtion Department no longer participates in the joint project with h )(49)0(38)(87)* March 08 Headcount includes five former membersAs the chart illustrates almost half or 48% of thevacant positions reside in the Criminal DivisionAdministration, where Probation Officers handleDWI (Driving While Intoxicated), Investigation,Intensive Supervision, Mental Health, and SexOffender Monitoring.Police DepartmentAs of March 1, 2008 OLBR projects a deficit inPolice District of 1.3 million and a surplus inPolice Headquarters of 2.0 million.Thisprojection does not include future agreementsassociated with CSEA, SOA or the recent DAIAward. Even though there are 18 vacant policeofficer positions, the deficit in the District Fund isthe result of higher than budgeted average actualpolice officer salaries and five more than budgetedsuperior officer positions.The surplus inHeadquarters is due in part to the 71 vacantpositions, of which 15 are SOA and 25 DAI. Thefollowing chart details headcount levels for theFY 08 budget compared to March 1, 2008 and thevacant positions as of March.of the SOA bargaining unit.The current sworn headcount as of March 1 is 2,701compared to the 2,750 target that the Administrationhad included in the budget. The increase in Ordinanceis related to the change in status to Ordinance of fivesuperior officers due to a clause, effective December31, 2007, in the current SOA Award. The positionsthat are no longer part of the SOA bargaining unitinclude Deputy Commissioner, Chief of Operations,Chief of Detectives, Chief of Support and Chief ofDistrict. As the chart above indicates, the overallheadcount is below budget, mostly in swornheadcount.The Administration intends to try to reach the uniformheadcount level of 2,750 through hiring smaller classesmore frequently. A class of 34 recruits is anticipatedto begin March 28 and an additional class will startsometime in May, the size is dependent on the currentlevel of attritions. The Administration’s goal is toachieve an average of 2,750 sworn headcount, ratherthan peak at that level. The added uniform strengthshould positively impact overtime. Approximately 95new police officers will be out on patrol beginning inthe spring when the November hires graduate withanother 45 or so to follow soon after. It should benoted that overtime in 2008 has been budgeted atapproximately 10.0 million less than the 2007 actual.In 2007, the budgeted overtime of 40.2 million fellshort by 4.1 million.