Although Houston Police Department rules require that officers work no more than 80 hours at both on-duty and off-duty jobs, the department does a poor job of regulating officers' total hours or tracking off-duty hours or jobs, a new City Controller's performance audit concludes.
Fortunately for HPD, the audit discovered no correlation between extra hours and increased injuries, absences or d
isciplinary complaints.
"Problems with HPD's time management system are long-standing and can't be corrected overnight," commented City Controller Annise Parker. "But this thorough audit should lead to new efficiencies."
HPD Chief Harold Hurtt agrees with much of the audit and said the department is taking steps to correct the problems. He noted that SAP, the city's new financial reporting system, could help overcome "severe limitations" in the department's reporting and tracking capabilities.
The audit also noted that HPD has far more divisions (49) than the other five large city police departments in the study and may be burdened with a "considerable number of administrative staff to process the manual documention" of its divisions.
The audit was performed by the accounting firm of Mir Fox & Rodriguez for the City Controller's Office. The complete audit can be found at: www.houstontx.gov/controller/audit.html.
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The city's certified annual financial report, or CAFR, will be released January 31 because of long-standing reporting problems in several city departments, City Controller Annise Parker announced.
"There are no underlying financial issues. No one's trying to hide anything. Cities all over the country frequently turn in CAFRs late," the controller said.
In fact, reports show that Houston and Corpus Christi normally publish annual financial reports in November or December, well before other major Texas cities. Over a five-year period, not one CAFR from Dallas, Austin, Ft. Worth, San Antonio, El Paso or Corpus Christi met the October 31 release deadline. Dallas, for instance, oftened released its CAFR in April or May.
That's why Houston lobbied the state legislature, albeit unsuccessfully, to extend the deadline to December 31, Parker e
xplained.
"After three years of frustration," the city controller said that she'll begin giving City Council a monthly report card about specific departments' progress. She noted that the Controller's Office has no authority over other departments and must rely on their accounting staffs to supply the correct information by deadlines.
Unfortunately, she said, some departments assign this reporting a low-priority, and "They don't always have the expertise to supply the necessary information."
"Some departments continually expect the external auditors and the Controller's Office to clean up their reports, which is impossible without the right numbers."
Budget deficits turn to $4 million surplus
"Sales tax" still ranks as two of the favorite words at City Hall as projected monthly budget deficits finally turn to surplus.
The current Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR) projects the city will close the fiscal year with a $4 million surplus largely because sales tax receipts are up more than 12% over last year. Last month, City Controller Annise Parker reported that the city was running $4 million over budget.
While San Antonio and Austin also saw double digit sales tax increases, Dallas remains flat. Any doubts about sales tax trends should be laid to rest Wednesday when the December holiday sales tax figures come in.
Money Matters visits West 11th Street Park
Join City Controller Annise Parker as she tours the city's newest park on the February edition of Money Matters.
Beautifully wooded West 11th Street Park has been in the news lately because the city and community activists are trying to raise $3.5 million to complete the purchase of the entire block so that five acres does not have to be sold to pay off a loan. ( www.savethispark.org or www.west11thstreetpark.org))
Tune in Mondays at 2 and 8 a.m. and 2 and 8 p.m. on the Municipal Channel (Warner Cable 16, Kingwood 14, TCI 16, Phonoscope 2 and TvMax 20).