|
And, as any baseball
fan will tell you, that kind of data isn't just numbers -- it's
the stuff from which legends are made.
As general manager
Charles Baker presented a page-by-page review of the highlights
at a budget hearing on May 3, Council members were anything but
bored by his testimony. When he finished, they were lavish in
their praise for his having set the all-time record for the most
comprehensive report on departmental activity delivered in 15
minutes.
It was something
like the bureaucratic equivalent of hitting .325, with 50 home
runs, 100 r.b.i. and 100 stolen bases.
By the numbers, here
is what he said the department did in 2003:
|
|
|
|
507 |
Meeting with
civic, business and government groups attended |
|
31,317 |
Walk-in
'customers' served at the Government Center |
|
75,995 |
Telephone
calls from 'customers' handled |
|
40 |
Existing or
prospective businesses given information to expand or
establish a business |
|
217 |
Violations of
county property codes handled (up from 173 in 2002) |
|
183 |
'Show cause'
hearings related to alleged violations held (compared to
89 in 2002) |
|
25 |
Pieces of
legislation researched and drafted (of which 21 were
changes to the basic Unified Development Code (6 approved
by Council, 1 rejected, 4 pending and 10 still in draft
form)) |
|
250 |
Properties for
which substantial damage was calculated so owners could
qualify for assistance after the September storms and
floods |
|
1,084 |
Elevator
inspections conducted (of which 69 involved new lifts) |
|
17,000 |
Tax
assessments conducted (which added $348 million of
assessed value to the tax rolls, bringing the total to
$21.8 billion) |
|
2,127 |
Applications
for senior citizen tax exemptions processed |
|
1,416 |
School tax
credits for seniors received from the state and processed |
|
1,261 |
Properties
restored to the tax rolls by discontinuance of exemptions |
|
2,900 |
New tax
parcels created through development subdivisions |
|
165 |
Community
meetings attended to assist with local planning and
development matters |
|
308 |
Development
plans received and reviewed (plus 4 redevelopment plans) |
|
12 |
Rezoning
applications received and reviewed |
|
55 |
Demolition
permit applications received and reviewed for historic-preservtion
implications |
|
634 |
Average number
of days it took for a major development plan to go though
the approval process (versus 710 days a year earlier) |
|
134 |
Sediment and
stormwater plans approved (121 were denied) |
|
1,264 |
Permits for
construction of single-family dwellings issued (including
239 townhouses) |
|
35 |
Permits for
multi-family dwellings issued (providing for 528 living
units) |
|
174 |
Permits for
commercial structures issued (involving 1,751,608 square
feet of commercial space) |
|
438 |
Permits for
swimming pools issued |
|
302 |
Sign permits
issued |
|
4,495 |
Certificates
of occupancy issued |
|
55.905 |
Inspections
performed as a result of complaints about alleged property
code violations (up from 51,054 in 2002) |
|
51,467 |
Building
inspections performed (up from 47,232 in 2002) |
|
32 |
Communities
for which maintenance corporation fees are collected (from
5,089 homes) |
|
175 |
Staff
positions in the department (9 currently vacant; no change
planned for fiscal 2005) |
|
$14,991,094 |
Fiscal 2005
budget request (up from $13,906,740 this year, with
$952,930 of the increase attributed to salaries and
employee benefits) |
|
$5,689,700 |
Estimated
county revenue the department will account for in fiscal
2004. |
Not one to allow his
team to rest on its laurels, Baker offered an eight-page list of
goals for the coming year. A significant one is to use aerial
photography to "look for buildings that may be out there but
[which] we haven't assessed," he said. A major emphasis, he
added, will be placed on helping communities eligible for
'hometown' status produce the requisite plans.
And there is the
matter of dealing with the expanded County Council. Baker said
the hope is that roughly the current amount of liaison is split
between incumbents and new Council members who will represent
half of each existing district. "If the volume of Council
[members'] phone calls doubles, we'll be hurting," he quipped. |
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