SAFEclear costs go up up up! (cont'd)
City Controller Annise Parker's limited audit of the SAFEclear program was released today.
The audit estimates costs for SAFEclear from January 2005 to June 2005, and then for the next fiscal year. The full report is available here in PDF format.
Last week, HPD presented to council an estimate of $1,586,767 for the cost of SAFEclear from January 2005 to June 2005. The controller's estimate of costs over that period is $1,643,917.
For the coming fiscal year, the report notes:
The HPD and the Administration represented to City Council on June 8, 2005 that FY 2006 estimated expenses would total $3,000,000 and the expenses not covered by Metro and freeway segment fees would be $600,000.
We believe the estimated expense not covered by Metro and the freeway segment fees to be $878,000 or $278,000 greater than HPD's estimate, if the Safe Clear Program remains unchanged.
Parker estimates the total cost of SAFEclear for next year will be $3,288,000 -- or nearly ten percent more than HPD/White Administration estimates that were presented to council roughly one week ago.
Interestingly, this ominous paragraph is included in the first page of Parker's report:
HPD estimated $578,300 for towing costs for the five-month period, but only has $567,000 available to pay for free tows for the period. This $567,000 is derived from a contractual monthly cap of $25,000 ($125,000 for the five-month period for free tows; February through June 2005), plus Metro's $442,000 contribution received in May 2005. To date, HPD has forwarded to the Controller's Office $1,143,000 in Supplemental Allocation Letters, which is $576,000 in excess of City Council's authorization of $567,000. Until HPD resolves this matter, the Controller's Office has suspended payments to the Operators. [Emphasis supplied]
News that this critical report was ready for release may have prompted action with the tow companies by the city. Parker's report notes the following:
[I]n the afternoon of June 14, 2005, we were supplied with a new draft contract between the City and its Tow Truck Operators. The effects of these contracts, if any, on this report have not been determined."
We would email Mayor White's staff for that information, but neither Frank Michel nor Pat Trahan have bothered to answer any number of emails that we have sent to them previously requesting various information. Apparently, that's how customer-oriented government works! So, we'll encourage any of the local reporters who read this blog to follow up on that with the White Administration.
RELATED COVERAGE: Doug Miller (KHOU-11), Matt Stiles (Houston Chronicle).
PREVIOUSLY: SAFEclear costs go up up up! (bH).
ANNE LINEHAN ADDS: The genesis of SAFEclear was a trial program on the Katy Freeway. Since that program seemed to go without a hitch, the mayor decided to implement it on ALL of Houston's freeways, all at once. When a hue and cry went up about the highly punitive nature of the original plan, the mayor was forced to scramble up a Plan B. Now we learn that the mayor's Plan B completely overwhelmed HPD:
"We think the program was poorly vetted in the beginning, that it was placed with a police administrative division that was unprepared to handle it. They were overwhelmed," said Annise Parker, Houston City Controller.
Houston police had problems handling an avalanche of paperwork verifying that wrecker drivers had really towed the cars they claimed to have towed.
If there is anything we have learned about Mayor White, it is that when he wants something done, he expects everyone involved to jump. We can imagine that HPD was told to jump, and we can see what the result of that was.
UPDATE (06-16-2005): I didn't comment on the Chronicle story last night, because I assumed it was a work in progress, but that's pretty much the version of the story that ran today. It's really some weak reporting. A separate critique will follow with specifics later.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/15/05 06:41 PM | Print |
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