Q&A
Impact of staff reductions on traffic safety and revenue, and federal reimbursements
0:26:48
·
64 sec
Council Member Restler and Henry Garrido discuss the impact of staff reductions on traffic safety and revenue generation, particularly in the context of traffic camera and stop sign maintenance. They also explore the topic of federal and state reimbursements for certain city positions.
- Restler points out that the reduction in headcount affects not only revenue generation but also community safety
- Garrido emphasizes that many positions are partially reimbursed by federal or state government, making the staff reductions even less sensible
- Examples of reimbursed positions include nurses (Medicaid reimbursement) and traffic device maintainers (federal reimbursement)
Lincoln Restler
0:26:48
Yeah.
0:26:48
And and and if I recall correctly, because that local had the came before our committee earlier, this this session, They also repair traffic cameras and stop signs.
0:26:57
So these are not only revenue generating positions on the camera side, but they're critical for safety in our community.
0:27:03
And, you know, the wild under the wild, reduction in headcount that we've seen, we're down 60 odd employees.
0:27:10
About a 5th of the, about a 5th of where we were prior to the pandemic is just it's not only revenue generating.
0:27:17
It's critical to the health and safety of our community.
0:27:20
Yeah.
Henry Garrido
0:27:20
And, Indu, what it doesn't make any sense is that a lot of these positions are partially reimbursed by federal or state government.
0:27:26
Right.
0:27:26
Right?
0:27:27
I talked about the nurses.
0:27:28
Medicaid has a proportionally reimbursement of that.
0:27:32
The traffic device maintainers, the Department of of Transportation gets federal reimbursement for that.
0:27:38
You know, you got across the board.
0:27:40
This happens with state positions at HRA, with case management because of minimum staffing.
0:27:45
Again, reimbursement.
0:27:46
It's not a 100%.
0:27:47
Yeah.
0:27:48
But it's partial, and it's bringing back revenue and doesn't make any sense about the way they
Isaac Kirk Davidoff
0:27:52
do it.
Lincoln Restler
0:27:52
I wanted to just circle back to something in your testimony that I thought was particularly salient, and it's something that chair Delaureaus and I have been talking about for for over a year.
