Fiscal Year 2004 Proposed Budget

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS
WATER, SEWER AND STREETS DIVISION
DIVISION OPERATIONS

PROGRAM MISSION: The mission of the Streets Program is to maintain the County's streets, sidewalks, and storm water infrastructure.

The General Fund program includes Street Maintenance, Storm Sewer Maintenance and emergency responses related to opening roadways and storm drainage systems.

• Contract Concrete Maintenance is focused in three areas: low-density residential, high-density residential and commercial, and maintenance before paving. The goal of the maintenance before paving effort is to repair concrete curbs, gutters, and sidewalks prior to repaving streets. The low-density residential effort is intended to correct deficiencies in concrete curbs, gutters and sidewalks in low-density residential zones on a six-year cycle. The high-density assessment program repairs concrete curbs, gutters and sidewalks in higher density zones at the expense of adjoining property owners. Revenues substantially offset expenses in this effort.

• Capital Construction is estimated to be approximately 19 percent of the total Division's efforts, however over 50 percent of the expenditures in this program are offset by charges made to capital projects. This enables the Department of Public Works to have resources to perform capital construction projects, as well as perform maintenance work for other agencies, such as Arlington County Schools and for the Parks and Natural Resources Division where feasible. The equipment and personnel are then available for emergencies such as snowstorms, and other (typically) weather-related events.

• General Maintenance is primarily focused on asphalt maintenance, bus shelter maintenance, graffiti removal and miscellaneous concrete maintenance. Asphalt maintenance ranges from pothole patching to full excavation and replacement, depending on existing conditions. These personnel and equipment are also used to respond to snow and other emergencies.

• Utility Patching is budgeted as a part of the capital construction effort. This program repairs asphalt and concrete after the Public Works Water and Sewer crews make cuts in the pavement for water or sewer related repairs. All work performed in this effort is charged to the Utilities Fund (personnel and non-personnel expenses).

• Emergency (Snow) Response is also funded in this program, and it relies primarily on the equipment and personnel that perform the other tasks. Snow is estimated to be about ten percent of the financial effort on average, but this estimate only includes the cost of materials, overtime, and work by staff in other divisions, or programs. The cost of the vehicles and staff time has typically been budgeted in the other crews, such as capital construction and maintenance.

• Storm Sewer Maintenance was enlarged in FY 2002 to include catch basin cleaning and pipe inspection. The effort also includes repairs to damaged or failed pipes, structures, and the cleaning of blocked lines and street lines. The storm drainage effort includes maintenance to open channels when necessary, and removal of vegetation along the Four Mile Run flood control project.

Positions and vehicles are now allotted to specific efforts, but employees are assigned and scheduled to respond to County needs. For example, during a snowstorm, all employees and equipment will be engaged in snow removal efforts. Following the storm, they typically have to focus more efforts on repairing asphalt that was damaged by the winter weather. During the summer construction season, more efforts are focused on capital work and work for others, and in the fall, some vehicle drivers work with the Department of Environmental Services on leaf collection.

SIGNIFICANT BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS:

• Administration of the Paving Program was moved from Engineering to the Water, Sewer and Streets Division beginning with the 2003 calendar year. This will place control of all repair options in one unit. The additional position shown in FY 2004 was reassigned from the Engineering Division.

• In FY 2004, responsibility for bus shelter maintenance will move from this Division to the Transit Unit in the Planning Division. This Division will remain the service providers for the Transit Unit, but the Transit Unit will manage the program and evaluate service options. The change in management is reflected as an increase in Work for Others ($35,000), which has the effect of reducing the personnel budget by that amount.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES:

• A reduction in tons of asphalt placed in paving program is a result of the proposed decrease in capital funding for the Paving Program.

• Pavement rating is determined by regular inspection and evaluation of street conditions and calculated on a County-wide basis through the pavement management software. A condition rating of 70 to 75 is considered good.

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