Form revised December 4, 2006

FISCAL NOTE FOR NON-CAPITAL PROJECTS

Department:	Contact Person/Phone:	DOF Analyst/Phone:
Seattle Public Utilities	Julie Vorhes / 5-0027	John McCoy / 5-0768

Legislation Title:

AN ORDINANCE amending the 2007 Adopted Budget by abrogating one position and augmenting another in the Solid Waste Fund of Seattle Public Utilities (SPU).

· Summary of the Legislation:

This legislation abrogates one full-time Painter position and increases a Public Education Program Specialist by 0.5 FTE in order to better deploy the City’s anti-graffiti resources in the wake of recent budget decisions in other departments.

· Background:

The proposed 2007-2008 budget would have enabled a citywide 48-hour graffiti cleanup policy on public property by adding General-Fund-supported painters and vehicles in SDOT, Seattle Center, and Parks, as well as tonnage-tax-supported painters, a vehicle, and support staff to SPU.  During budget deliberations, the Council chose to cut all the General Fund adds but left SPU’s tonnage-tax-supported adds intact.

Following adoption of the 2007 Budget, DOF asked SPU to revisit the question of how best to deploy its new anti-graffiti resources in the absence of a 48-hour policy.  A recently completed benchmarking study found that Seattle devotes comparatively little resources to public education, outreach, and volunteers than many peer cities, and the study identified these components as potentially beneficial to Seattle’s program.  Working within existing budget levels and tonnage tax rates, the new proposal would abrogate one of the two new painter positions (taking the Graffiti Rangers from its current five staff members to six) and use that budget to convert the new Public Education Program Specialist position from part-time to full-time.  The legislation reduces SPU staffing levels by a net 1 position and 0.5 FTE.

As a full-time position, SPU expects the Public Education Program Specialist to coordinate a corps of neighborhood volunteers who can provide extra eyes and ears to promote greater graffiti hotline reporting.  Volunteers can also help abate graffiti, both on public property alongside the Rangers, and on private property that the Graffiti Rangers currently cannot do.  In addition, the specialist will make educational appearances at schools and with youth groups to dissuade juvenile taggers, provide technical advice to private property owners on the best ways to abate different kinds of tags on different surfaces, and assist in better interdepartmental / interagency coordination.

· Please check one of the following:

____ This legislation does not have any financial implications. (Stop here and delete the remainder of this document prior to saving and printing.)

_X__ This legislation has financial implications. (Please complete all relevant sections that follow.)

Appropriations:  None

Fund Name and Number	Department	Budget Control Level*	2007 Appropriation	2008 Anticipated Appropriation
TOTAL

Anticipated Revenue/Reimbursement: Resulting From This Legislation: None

Fund Name and Number	Department	Revenue Source	2007 Revenue	2008 Revenue
TOTAL

Total Regular Positions Created Or Abrogated Through This Legislation, Including FTE Impact:  This table should only reflect the actual number of positions created by this legislation  In the event that positions have been, or will be, created as a result of previous or future legislation or budget actions, please provide details in the Notes section below the table.

Position Title and Department*		Fund Name		Fund Number		Part-Time/ Full Time		2007 Positions		2007 FTE		2008 Positions**		2008 FTE**
	Painter, SPU (#10003779)		Solid Waste Fund		45010		Full-time		-1		-1		-1		-1
	Public Education Program Specialist, SPU (#10003783)		Solid Waste Fund		45010		Convert part time to full time		0		0.5		0		0.5
	TOTAL								-1		-0.5		-1		-0.5

*   List each position separately

** 2008 positions and FTE are total 2008 position changes resulting from this legislation, not incremental changes.  Therefore, under 2008, please be sure to include any continuing positions from 2007.

· Do positions sunset in the future?  No

Spending/Cash Flow:

Fund Name and Number	Department	Budget Control Level*	2007 Expenditures	2008 Anticipated Expenditures
TOTAL

* See budget book to obtain the appropriate Budget Control Level for your department.

· What is the financial cost of not implementing the legislation?

The legislation is entirely budget neutral.  If not implemented SPU would hire an additional painter to achieve faster abatement on SPU assigned work, but would lose the ability to engage as extensively with volunteers and provide a means of assistance to private property owners.

· What are the possible alternatives to the legislation that could achieve the same or similar objectives?

SPU could conceivably retain a volunteer to act as volunteer coordinator and do public education work, but this is likely to be less stable and productive than hiring staff and would require extensive training for the lead volunteer to ensure work is carried out appropriately.

· Is the legislation subject to public hearing requirements:  No

· Other Issues (including long-term implications of the legislation): None

Please list attachments to the fiscal note below: None