DBI budget adopted as compromise: 29 FTE added, attrition levels held to preserve flexibility

Pamela Levin, DBI’s deputy director for administrative services, presented the department’s 2012–13 budget and described it as the first year of a two-year plan. Key figures presented to the Commission: DBI’s full-time-equivalent count for FY11–12 was about 267; budgeted attrition for the prior year was 24.52 (about 9%); the 2012–13 attrition rate in the adopted budget is 8%; and the department added the budget authority for 29 FTE (hired at 0.77 annualized cost because positions begin partway through the fiscal year).

Levin told commissioners the citywide labor agreements and a Prop C change reduced employer fringe costs in the budget by roughly $823,000 and that line-item adjustments (training, materials, work orders) reflected negotiations with the City’s Budget and Finance Committee. She described a compromise on salary funding: because the budget analyst expected a high vacancy level, some salary dollars were placed in a reserve that DBI may access later if it can show hires are in place.

Manish Goyal of the Mayor’s budget office said attrition targets are set through consultation with departments; he presented comparative attrition figures for similarly sized departments (District Attorney ~11%; Treasurer/Tax Collector ~9%) to show DBI’s budgeted attrition is mid-range. Commissioners asked whether there is a universal “acceptable” attrition rate; staff answered that attrition must be set case-by-case because departments have different staffing mixes and cyclical needs.

Commissioners thanked staff and the Mayor’s budget office for the comparative data and said the presentation clarified the department’s position going into the coming hiring cycle. Levin said the department expects to hire and fill positions according to its staffing model and will return with budget detail as needed.