OFFICE OF THE SERGEANT AT ARMS For salaries and expenses for the Sergeant At Arms. $3,889,000. Included in this request is $3.475,000 for personnel and $414,000 for non-personnel. At this time I will introduce the Honorable Wilson S. Livingood, the Sergeant At Arms of the House, who is here to testify on behalf of his FY '97 budget request. DISCUSSION ON FY '97 CHANGES IN SERGEANT'S BUDGET Mr. PACKARD. Does your request include any funding for any additional FTES? Mr. LIVINGOOD. No, Mr. Chairman. No additional FTEs are requested. I am currently assessing the staffing requirements of the Office of House Garage and Parking Security to determine if we can do a further reduction in FTEs without jeopardizing the effectiveness and efficiency of that operation. Mr. PACKARD. That was my next question. Mr. LIVINGOOD. That is one area that I am looking at, Mr. Chairman. Garage and Parking Security came to us with 48 employees. However, only 44 were authorized. We are currently operating with less than 44, and we are looking at further reductions. Mr. PACKARD. I appreciate that. Any comments or questions on that item, the parking facilities and the transitions that have taken place there? I think most of us have seen an improvement, and I would to congratulate you on that. I think your training has been effective; and, frankly, I don't think that we have felt a decrease in service as you have downsized the number of employees. So, again, my congratulations. Mr. LIVINGOOD. I am very proud of those individuals there. They rose to meet the occasion, and I think they enjoy being in uniform and getting the training. I have noticed a whole new feeling within the parking security. Mr. PACKARD. I think you are right. I might mention that we have just approved the reprogramming of funds to give them uniforms. That request came through. Mr. LIVINGOOD. Excellent. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. PACKARD. Do you have funds in this budget request for parking lot lighting? Mr. LIVINGOOD. No, sir, we do not have any funds budgeted for lot lighting. We mentioned it in our request and have been working with the Architect of the Capitol. Mr. PACKARD. That is where we should receive the request for funding? Mr. LIVINGOOD. Yes, sir. I went back and, luckily, I hadn't put a figure in there. We had gone to the Architect. CAPITOL GUIDE SERVICES AND SPECIAL SERVICES OFFICE Mr. PACKARD. On the Capitol Guides and the Special Services Offices-those are joint items, and that you help oversee as a result of some reorganization there last year. What is your plan for those offices and what is the budget for those two areas? Mr. LIVINGOOD. The budget for the Capitol Guides Service and Special Services Office is $1,991,000. We have just finished a comprehensive study of the Capitol Guides Service and we are talking about making major changes in the hours of operation, some of the way they provide their services, the routes, and the Saturday and Sunday schedules. I am just in the process of getting signatures on this from the other members of the board, and we will be submitting this to House Oversight and to the Appropriations Committee for approval. I think you will find a much more organized, and more efficient operation than we have had in the past. Our main purpose is to regain control of the building from the huge crowds, particularly in the spring and summer months. In addition, we are looking at the possibility of a merger between and the Guide Service and the Special Services unit. This proposed merger is being explored with and coordinated through the Senate Sergeant at Arms, Mr Greene. Today the Senate Sergeant at Arms is in full agreement with this proposal. We should have the study finished on the merger of the two offices, outlining the pros and cons, I would think within two weeks. Mr. PACKARD. Submit for us your evaluation of what kind of savings that will incur and how your restructuring will be done. We would appreciate that. Mr. LIVINGOOD. I will, Mr. Chairman. [The information follows:] Mr Chairman, unfortunately at this time, I do not have an estimate of the savings that would be accrued by merging the Capitol Guide Service with Special Services. We are in the preliminary stages of exploring the fiscal savings, if any, of merging these two operations. It should also be noted that there are other valid reasons to merge the two tour divisions. The merger will ensure that anytime someone with a special need visits the Capitol, they are met with a tour guide trained to assist them. Currently, Special Services do not work on Saturday or Sunday. However, the Capitol Guide Service states that many people with special needs visit the Capitol on the weekend. The current set-up discriminates against weekend visitors with special needs. The Congress and the Capitol Guide Board believe that these needs should be met. I am a firm believer in cross training. The merger will increase the number of Guides that are able to deal with visitors' special needs. The Capitol Guides and the Special Service Guides will be cross-trained to assist each other during peak periods. This will enable more guides to conduct tours as well as provide more guides with the skills attuned to sensitivity required to deal with visitors with special needs. As part of the CAA, the need for Special Services is more important than ever. In the age of cost-cutting, it seems ridiculous to offer two different tour services in separate offices. By merging the two tour divisions, the Guide Board will be better able to serve the public and cut the overhead costs associated with running two separate offices without diminishing the benefits. Morale among the two staffs will increase dramatically as they begin to work in tandem as a team, instead of adversarial as competitors. Mr. PACKARD. Any further questions? INCREASE IN SERGEANT AT ARMS REQUEST Mr. DIXON. Just one, Mr. Chairman. Can you tell me where the increase is in your budget? Mr. LIVINGOOD. Over last year, sir? Mr. DIXON. Yes. Mr. LIVINGOOD. It is about 400— Mr. DIXON. I know the dollar amount. I see the FTEs are static. What is it that you are adding to your budget? Mr. LIVINGOOD. What I am adding to that, Mr. Dixon, is, first of all, nonpersonnel costs for the House garage and parking security. That came to me without any funding in that area. I have added Mr. DIXON. What are nonpersonnel costs? I am not sure I understand. FY '97 ESTIMATED OVERTIME COSTS FOR SERGEANT Mr. LIVINGOOD. Supplies, equipment. One of the things is the computer service down there. They had a computer that was the first computer ever put out and couldn't do WordPerfect or any of the processing, and we would like to update that. The other costs. are some of that is overtime projections because of the CAA. Mr. PACKARD. A sizable amount. Almost half is overtime. Mr. LIVINGOOD. Approximately. Mr. PACKARD. So you have calculated Mr. DIXON. The Sergeant has already calculated his overtime. Mr. LIVINGOOD. I got that figure from the Office of Finance. That is an approximation. But I can assure you that, as of January, we started doing everything humanly possible, as Robin said, in managing our resources with our personnel costs and in particular overtime. Mr. PACKARD. It is curious, however, that some agencies do estimate their overtime and then, of course, others have not. Explain a little bit. Mr. LIVINGOOD. We just felt that, from our standpoint, we would rather be safe than sorry. Mr. PACKARD. But you got your estimates from the finance officer and yet, Tom, you indicated that there much of the overtime you have not been able to calculate. Mr. ANFINSON. That is correct. Mr. PACKARD. Explain that for us. Mr. ANFINSON. If I am not wrong, you maintain records in the Sergeant at Arms Office on overtime that has been incurred every year, and we have not done that in the past. Mr. LIVINGOOD. We did that ever since I came into office. Mr. PACKARD. Have you done an evaluation, then, Bill, as to whether and I am not suggesting by any stretch of the imagination an increase of FTEs, but have you done some analysis as to whether the overtime is costing us more than hiring or filling positions? Mr. LIVINGOOD. No, I have not, sir; but what I have done is obviously tried to organize as much as possible, gone to some shift work so that I would not incur these costs and using some people that are exempt wherever I can fill in. Mr. PACKARD. I think that in our zeal to reduce costs and to downsize and to reduce FTEs where it is realistic we don't want to lose sight of the fact of efficiencies; and if there are other areas of saving money and helping us move toward a balanced budget, we would be very interested in knowing. Mr. LIVINGOOD. Yes, sir, and we will be looking at this year very carefully. We are just in the process of instituting a new computerized overtime system and payroll, an hours-kept system, which is going to help us substantially capture these costs. We have them from last year, but this will be to the dollar. Mr. PACKARD. $220,000 is a lot of overtime in the budget. Mr. PACKARD. Yes, Bill? |