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OCC warns cuts will slow investigations as director trims FY2010 request
Summary
The Office of Citizen Complaints presented a proposed FY2010 budget reduced to $4.2 million and said planned eliminations of vacant positions and possible layoffs would increase investigators' caseloads and risk slowing mediations and policy work.
At the Jan. 28 meeting the Commission received the Office of Citizen Complaints' (OCC) proposed FY2010 budget from the OCC director. "Our current budget is $4,500,000," the director stated in explaining the office's baseline and the proposed reduction to $4,200,000 to meet a 12.5 percent contingency cut. The OCC director said eliminating three vacant positions would produce a small surplus to apply toward required additional reductions.
The OCC director told commissioners that the office currently has 17 line investigators handling an average of about 22 cases per investigator and noted the City Charter's staffing metric requiring one line investigator per 150 sworn officers. The director said reducing investigators to 16 would raise caseloads further and that national averages are closer to 16 cases per investigator.
The director also described the effect of potential legal‑staff reductions: under the contingency plan the OCC would reduce attorney staffing from the current complement and could lose a .75 FTE attorney, concentrating several legal and policy functions into a single position. The director warned these cuts would slow case closures, reduce mediation capacity (71 OCC mediations were cited), and increase backlog on policy recommendations the OCC is negotiating with SFPD.
Commissioners raised strong concerns about cutting the OCC further, citing a controller's audit that recommended a substantial overhaul and additional investigators. One commissioner said reducing staff after commissioning an audit into OCC performance risks undermining oversight; another urged that projected retirements and staffing attrition be clearly reflected in the budget narrative submitted to the mayor.
The commission did not adopt budget changes at the meeting. The OCC director asked for commissioners' feedback ahead of the department's formal submission to the mayor's office and noted the need to protect core OCC functions required by charter and to maintain timely complaint investigation and mediation services.
