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VEGETATION MANAGEMENT PROGRAM 1990 STATISTICS_AND 4 YEAR SUMMARY December 10, 1990 The City's vegetation Management Program has been under the administration of Public Works Maintenance for nearly three years. Since its transfer to the Maintenance Division, statistics which indicate program effectiveness and performance standards have been tracked. Attached are a four year summary of statistics and a detailed listing of origin of complaints including financial aspects of the program for 1990. The four year summary is of particular interest when looking for trends for the program. The statistics generally indicate an increase in the number of cases dealt with and a faster response time for cases accompanied by an - improved complaint to voluntary compliance ratio. These general trends indicate accomplishment of the goals of the program to more aggressively enforce elements of the municipal code related to vegetation and to educate property owners of their responsibilities under the code. Implications of the increased volume of cases dealt with include an increase in personnel time spent on the program and a significant increase in net revenue generated by the program. Increased personnel time spent on the program took the form of a higher overtime expenditure. Because of the seasonal nature of enforcement on undeveloped properties, additional work hours were committed to ensure timely response to complaints. Although personnel costs were slightly increased due to overtime, net revenues generated nearly doubled. Net revenues (total amount billed minus contractor payments) were $19,962 in 1990 compared to $10,408 in 1989. The reason for the increase in revenue is interesting since voluntary compliance improved and the actual number of property owners billed has decreased and at the same time bids for hourly contractor charges were lower. As a result of a challenge to the rates charged for administrative costs of an abatement being based on an hourly rate for contractor's completion of the abatement, a detailed study of actual administrative costs was performed in March of 1990. This study resulted in the establishment of a basic charge for administrative costs of each abatement resulting in an overall increase in administrative charges. While charges would be slightly less for abatements taking 4 hours or more to complete than under the old rate structure, the majority of abatements are completed in less than 4 hours. The net effect is that administrative charges more closely match costs and revenues have increased accordingly. 1990 was a year of fine - tuning and incremental improvement for the program. A larger area of the City was covered during inspection of undeveloped properties, violations on hillside properties were more aggressively enforced, and administrative abatement costs were adjusted. The vegetation management program continues to progress toward -the goals of better compliance with the municipal code and encouraging voluntary compliance through informing and educating property owners of their responsibilities.