FACED with a $13 million budget deficit, the Department of Public Health has begun consolidating the use of its vehicles and reducing overtime work and travel costs.
Acting Health Secretary James U. Hofschneider, however, said overtime work is “unavoidable” at the Commonwealth Health Center.
“Overtime pay is expensive. Some of them are unavoidable, but we will try to cut overtime pay,” Hofschneider said.
A four-member travel review committee has been formed to ensure that all travel requests of Public Health officials and employees are thoroughly screened before they are approved.
This will reduce unnecessary travel costs, Hofschneider said.
“We have already seen a decrease in travel,” he added.
Under the new vehicle use policy, Public Health’s vehicles will be consolidated under one division to ensure proper usage, maintenance and sharing.
The Department of Public Safety earlier announced that it would drastically reduce its overtime costs.
“In order for us to cope with the financial crisis, we have to make sure that we minimize waste in the department without compromising patient care,” Hofschneider said.
Public Health expects a $13 million budget deficit by the end of this fiscal year.
“We’re doing everything we can in our department to try to cut back projected deficit through cost containment and revenue enhancement ,” he said.
Pete Untalan, special assistant to the health secretary, said Public Health “has always been under budgeted.”
“What’s hurting us now is that we made all these cuts and adjustments for the past five years, but we haven’t seen any growth in our budget. Now it’s impacting our capital expenditure, equipment replacement, medication and procurement,” Untalan said.
