Audits:
Department of Sanitation Audit
Department of Correction Audit

New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today released two audits that determined the Department of Sanitation could save $5.8 million by hiring civil service employees to fill 313 positions currently occupied by uniformed workers, while the Correction Department could save $4.7 million by civilianizing 167 positions. The audits call for both agencies to immediately review their operations to civilianize hundreds of support and administrative positions in order to yield significant savings amid the City’s budget crisis.

“Given New York City’s troubling economic times, we must think creatively,” Thompson said. “I have identified 480 positions in which the City can easily achieve savings through attrition while employing qualified personnel. As the prospect of more layoffs looms heavily over the City, we must take any and every action possible to save jobs and spare heartache.”

Thompson offered similar cost-cutting ideas last year for the New York City Police Department. An audit determined that the Department could generate more than $15.2 million annually by employing civilians instead of uniformed officers to fill 831 non-enforcement jobs. The audits note that Sanitation and Correction do not have any ongoing systematic efforts to identify uniformed positions for civilianization.

Department of Sanitation

The audit of the Department of Sanitation found the agency could save $5.8 million annually if 313 positions now filled by uniformed employees were instead filled by civil service workers. These positions are occupied by 242 Sanitation workers, 63 Supervisors, and eight GS-Level I employees.

Positions were deemed suitable for civilianization if they did not involve duties directly related to sanitation activities and if the positions did not require special skills of a trained uniformed sanitation worker. Specific positions were excluded if filled by uniformed employees with certain civil service classifications.

Auditors reviewed 16 work units within the Department of Sanitation where 446 uniformed employees are assigned to administrative and support positions (primarily those with the title Sanitation Worker and Sanitation Supervisor). The audit report contains a chart identifying the number of positions that could be civilianized in each division, and the savings each could achieve.

The DOS division in which civilianization could produce the most savings is the Enforcement Unit. Thirty-seven positions – all Enforcement Agents - could be civilianized to yield $1.2 million. The audit noted another 37 positions that could be civilianized in the division at a later time. The Enforcement Division is responsible for monitoring compliance with laws involving the maintenance of streets, illegal dumping and waste and recyclable storage and disposal.

The Bureau of Cleaning and Collection Headquarters could save $755,244 by filling 37 positions with civilians. The Bureau of Cleaning and Collection is DOS’s largest organizational division, responsible for overseeing street cleaning, garbage collection and snow removal. It has the greatest concentration of uniformed personnel in the agency.

“The agency could maintain and even improve services simply by redeploying uniformed workers and hiring civilians to fill those posts,” Thompson said.

In the audit, Thompson noted that: “There are advantages to staffing a position with an experienced individual. However, the Department could hire a qualified civilian to fill a support or administrative position currently filled by uniformed personnel and address the civilian’s lack of departmental experience by providing appropriate training and supervision.”

Thompson made two key recommendations. First, DOS should civilianize the 313 positions identified in the report. Secondly, the agency should conduct a comprehensive review of all other units to locate other positions appropriate for civilianization.

DOS, in its response, said the agency has made “continued and organized” efforts to civilianize positions and agreed to implement the recommendations.

Department of Correction

Thompson’s audit examined the Department of Correction’s 12 largest non-incarceration units, in which 1,235 officers are assigned (representing 80 percent of officers assigned to all 59 non-incarceration units). Non-incarceration units perform tasks such as processing job applications, providing employee training, maintaining vehicles and property, transporting inmates to court appearances, handling inmate property and laundering inmate clothing.

The department has three uniformed titles: Correction Officer, Captain and Warden, which includes Assistant Deputy Wardens, Deputy Wardens and Wardens. The audit concluded that positions were suitable for civilianization if they did not involve direct inmate supervision responsibilities and did not require the special skills of a trained uniformed officer with correction officer experience.

The audit determined that 167 of the 1,235 positions could be civilianized for annual savings of more than $4.7 million, savings that would be achieved over a period of time. The audit report contains a chart identifying the number of positions that could be civilianized in each division, and the savings each could achieve.

Many of these positions were in the Health Management Division, in which 39 positions could be civilianized to exact $1,391,073 in savings; Transportation Division, in which 30 positions could be filled by civilians to save $847,981; and the Investigation Division, in which 21 positions could be civilianized to save $439,807.

“We recognize that current budget circumstances most likely will not allow the Department of Correction to hire additional employees in the near future,” Thompson said. “However, as uniformed personnel resign, retire, or otherwise leave the department, lower cost civilian personnel should be hired or transferred to these units to begin to assume some of the civilian-type functions currently being performed by uniformed officers.”

Thompson offered two recommendations. First, the department should review and civilianize the 167 positions cited in the report. Secondly, the agency should conduct a comprehensive review of all of its non-incarceration units to identify further positions that could be civilianized.

The Department of Correction, in its response, stated that “it largely agrees with the auditor’s findings” and that the audit’s “efforts have pointed to several fruitful areas where cost savings can indeed be achieved.”