Audit Report on Opportunities for Savings through Civilianization in Administrative Units of the New York City Fire Department

Audit Report In Brief

This audit of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) reviewed opportunities for savings from civilianizing positions in administrative (non-firefighting) units at the Department. FDNY’s mission is to protect the life and property of City residents and visitors from fire and critical health threats through its five primary operations: response to fire emergencies; response to medical emergencies; fire prevention, including inspection and code enforcement; criminal and cause-and-origin investigation; and fire-safety education. FDNY’s Fiscal Year 2004 operating budget totaled $1.1 billion, including $1.02 billion for personal services and $90 million for other than personal services.

To accomplish its mission, FDNY has about 11,000 uniformed firefighters and officers, 2,800 emergency medical employees and 1,500 civilian support personnel. FDNY’s administrative units perform such functions as firefighter training, fire investigation, and fire prevention, as well as health, personnel, and equipment maintenance services. FDNY has the following uniformed titles: firefighter, fire marshal, supervising fire marshal, lieutenant, captain, battalion chief, deputy chief, and chief (which also includes the positions of deputy assistant chief and assistant chief).

FDNY has made efforts to civilianize a number of positions at various units in the Department. FDNY provided documentation that indicated that since 1995 it has civilianized 209 uniformed positions for budget savings of approximately $4.09 million. Nevertheless, our review of the 10 largest administrative units in FDNY identified additional positions that could be civilianized. Based on our review, we determined that 47 out of the 800 uniformed positions in these units (as of the dates of our July 2003 to January 2004 visits) should be civilianized for annual savings of approximately 2. These savings could be achieved over a period of time. As uniformed personnel resign, retire or otherwise leave the Department, lower-cost civilians should be hired or transferred to these units to assume some civilian-type functions currently being performed by uniformed personnel.

The audit recommended that the FDNY:

• Review and civilianize the 47 full-duty positions identified in this report that are civilian in nature and held by uniformed firefighters and fire officers in 10 administrative units.
• Conduct a comprehensive review of all its administrative units to identify additional civilianizable positions that would generate cost savings.
• Conduct a study to identify other tasks that could be assigned to light-duty firefighters, especially to those on extended light duty, that would make the best use of the firefighters’ training and experience, while still being consistent with their medical conditions.

On May 28, 2004, we submitted a draft report to FDNY officials with a request for comments. We received a written response from FDNY officials dated June 7, 2004. FDNY generally agreed with our findings and recommendations.

In its response, FDNY stated:

“Please thank your staff for the time and diligence that they put into this audit—the Department appreciates their efforts, and intends to utilize their recommendations.”

FDNY partially agreed with the audit’s recommendation that it review and civilianize 47 full-duty uniformed positions located in the 10 largest administrative units. FDNY agreed to “take the necessary steps” to either civilianize 19 of these positions or fill them with light-duty personnel. FDNY further stated that it “will also perform an in-depth review of the remaining 28 identified positions.”