CM Epstein questions OMB on DCWP staffing shortfall vs OMB's own report
Councilmember Epstein notes an OMB report said DCWP needed 321 lines but the budget only provides 181 over two years, leaving roughly 150 positions short. Solomon says the new commissioner conducted a top-down assessment and the funded lines are sufficient for current legislative mandates.
And next we have Councilmember Epstein, followed by Ressler.
Thank you, Chair, and thank you all for your time and patience here.
So I want to follow up on what the speaker raised earlier about the DCWP funding.
We saw an OMB report earlier in the year which said they needed 321 lines to be able to match all the additional work the agency is going to be responsible for.
And I know we've talked about 77 lines this year.
And a total of over 180 over the next two years.
It does seem like based on what OMB's earlier report said, that would still be close to 150 positions short to keep up with the needs that the agency has.
I'm wondering how you square those two decisions.
We've, in this administration, worked with the new commissioner.
Who has done sort of a top-down assessment along with City Hall.
This has been flagged as a priority.
Obviously for the mayor and the commissioner.
We worked with him to understand what his agency needs were and with the legislative mandates that apply to the agency.
And that was the number that we were able to do, which the commissioner also testified was sufficient for being able to carry out the duties by those local laws.
You know, when we had the hearing with the commissioner, we talked about whether these additional staffing would result in no backlog.
People not waiting here, he couldn't commit to that.
If we say that there's going to be continued backlog, as OMB committed to trying to get additional staff lines, so New Yorkers who have a
wage hour overtime violation doesn't have to wait six months to be able to speak to someone, not even the timeline it would take to actually prosecute a case to get them their money back.
The mayor has been very vocal and is committed to ensuring that there is restitution that is achieved for workers that have been
the subject to these actions.
And so that is what the department will do.
We'll continue to assess with the department if there are...
Constraints between the heads that they have and between their ability to fulfill the full mandate by the local laws that they've been entrusted to implement.
So I noticed there's no money in this budget for people who are advocating for delivery workers or street vendors who are doing the out.