a theological seminary student who has been employed by the church to work with young people, and who has a real talent for attracting them, has appealed to us to work with him in devising a meaningful program for 300 young people. There is no staff person there and a golden opportunity for delinquency prevention in that section of the city is being lost. It is temptation to ask a staff person still on the job to take on an extra assignment such as the northeast situa ion represents. It is felt, however, that this would not be wise if the covered area boards are to run effectively. A well organ ized area board has 8 to 12 comi tees working in different aspects of the delinquency problem. Each committee seeks and is given guidance by the staff representative who attends every one of the committee meetings as well as the full area board meetings. A few of the functions of the Youth Council Staff and area boards as they have been affected by staff reduction are outlined below. Youth Aid Division referrals. For some time the Youth Aid Division of the Police Department has sought from the Youth Council a followup service for police cases. These are the delinquency-prone children who have become known to the Police Department and are not referred to juvenile court. We have experimented with a few cases over the past 3 or 4 years but it has been only in the last 11⁄2 years that the number of referrals has been significant. In fscal 1961 there were 114 cases referred to the Youth Council. During the latter part of that year the two agencies had developed cooperative procedures which resulted in a substantial increase in the number of referrals. This is an important service and it is one not offered by any other agency. There were 266 cases referred to the Youth Council from the Youth Aid Division in the first 6 months of this fiscal year. Of these, 190 of the boys lived in areas where we still had a staff representative working with the area board. 118 have been completed, 72 are pending, and we have not assigned 76 cases which lie outside of these areas because we have no staff person to be responsible for their disposition. al There has been real progress in the quality and effectiveness of the wor' with these young people. The less serious situations have been guided into community activities and the individual sponsors of the boys are supervised by professional committees of the area boards. The cases which appeared to be quite serious to us have been referred to specialized agencies. For instance, the boy whose hobbies suggested a twisted mentality has been referred to a mental health clinic and we are awaiting instructions before proceeding further. unassigned cases, of course, cover a gamut of problems but we are not able to offer any service at all. The Among the cases that we count as completed are many which were not thoroughly serviced. We were forced to take shortcuts or simply to report back to the police department that a given case appeared to be too difficult and time consuming for the limited staff we had on hand. Some of these include situations which we considered dangerous or potentially harmful to the community. An example is a 16-year-old homosexual for whom we had nothing readily available and did not have time to develop any plan. We provided no service. Children discharged from delinquency institituons Within the past year procedures have been worked out through which children being discharged from delinquency institutions could be welcomed into their home neighborhoods and be offered supervision and friendship by the area board. The aim in this program is to help the individual adjust to a satisfactory community life and thereby to prevent recidivism at the institution. In these cases also we have had to deny help to those children coming from the institution to areas of the city in which we do not have a staff worker. The 14 children referred to us for service in the areas where we have a staff worker have shown good progress in their adjustment. Gangs In the staff-covered areas, we have continued working with gangs in whatever way seemed indicated for each group. Some of them have been involved in group activities, particularly recreation and athletics. In some, we have called together the parents for discussion and exchange of ideas. In some cases there have been visits to each home where there was a known gang member. All activity at this time has been curtailed in the sections of the city not covered by a staff worker. Typical of these is a gang of teenage boys who seem to be organized for the purpose of fighting. Weapons have been found in their possession. The Youth Council has not been able to move into this situation at all for lack of staff. Also typical is a gang of girls brought to our attention by the police after just 2 weeks' operation. They seem to be organized for the specific purpose of shoplifting. These girls come from homes where the parents would probably be receptive of any offer of assistance or counseling, but we have no staff person for that area and have done nothing about this ring. There is no police complaint because the property known to have been stolen has been recovered or paid for. Clothing Last year the earnings of the Centennial Inaugural Relief Fund to be used for shoes and clothing was given to the youth council to be disbursed through an area board which had developed procedures for citywide distribution of clothing. Although the area board involved still has a staff representative, we have not requested this money again because we cannot take the time of staff in the office to offer this service. We have kept responsibility for the actual disbursing of funds and reporting to the accounting office even though the area board handled all other aspects of the clothing distribution. There is at this time only $29.31 in this account and, according to latest information, there is no shoe money available through the PTA's or from any other free source. Our main source of used clothing has been through area boards in the outlying sections of the city where we now have no staff workers. Although area board committees have made appeals and collected clothing, it has been the staff person who has stimulated these appeals and arranged for pickup from the areas where the clothing is needed. We, therefore, face a real scarcity of items in the three clothing centers which we operate in slum areas of the city. (a) Administrative Services Office, $10,700.-Five additional positions are necessary in order to meet greatly increased workload in acquiring rights-of-way for the District highway construction program and to meet the nationwide procedural requirements of the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads for expenditure of Federal funds on all Federal-aid highway projects. The Administrative Services Office is responsible for the acquisition, management, and demolition of improvements on all properties authorized by Congress to be acquired for highway and other municipal purposes. New public roads procedures require staff review of fee appraisals to a degree of professional competence not available in the District government. Fair market values must be established after such review for offer to property owners as required by law before instituting condemnation proceedings. In addition, the appraisals become evidence in support of the fair value established by the District when necessary condemnation cases are tried in court. In addition to establishment of fair market values for acquisition, the appraisal review activity serves the Department of Highways and Traffic in the design and planning phases of highway projects, furnishing appraisal estimates for economic consideration in the selection of routes for highway projects, and the design of structures in order to assure the least financial impact on District and Federal funds and the economic balance of the community. The Bureau of Public Roads has been critical of the lack of required contact and communication with property owners in advance of actual negotiations for properties. The availability of additional personnel will permit compliance in this area by direct contact through the requested appraisers and by other available personnel within the real estate activity whose services are partly employed in the limited review of appraisals presently performed. These added procedural requirements cannot be met by the existing personnel because of the constantly increasing size of the highway program. The following table illustrates the growth of highway right-of-way acquisitions: In order to perform the function in an acceptable manner, the services of five additional employees will be required, one of whom will be a realty officer to give overall cohesion to the property acquisition program with particular attention to the appraisal review and establishment of values which is the principal factor in the function. Two qualified appraisers will be required as well as two employees to perform the typing and clerical duties supplementing the activities of the appraisers. Application of funds (b) Personnel office—employees disability compensation, $60,000.-The funds re quested will augment basic available funds ($290,000) for payment of employees disability compensation claims and related medical costs in fiscal year 1962. The original estimate of $290,000 for 1962 was based on the 1961 level of compensation payments, with consideration given to increased claim incidence as evidenced by trends over the years, plus the effects of Public Law 86-767, September 13, 1960, which increased the basic rates of employee injury compensation and greatly liberalized other disability benefits. However, the following developments make it apparent that the appropriation of $290,000 for 1962 must be supplemented. Monthly expenditures, July through December 1961, have been as follows: On the basis of information available at the time of apportionment of the 1962 appropriation, the annual plan indicated obligations of $140,000 for the first 6 months of the fiscal year and $150,000 for the last. (This unequal division was based on the normal increase of approximately 6 percent in claim incidence during the final half of each fiscal year.) Actual experience during the period July 1December 31 was $189,610, or $49,610 over the estimate. Several factors, all uncontrollable and unable to be projected in advance, contributed to this extreme variation. For example: 1 Public Law 87-339, approved October 3, 1961, made section 104 of Public Law 86-767 applicable to the District of Columbia and increased compensation rates according to date of injury as follows: January 1, 1951, to December 31, 1957, 10-percent increase. January 1, 1946, to December 31, 1950, 20-percent increase, and all prior to January 1, 1946, 30 percent. The retroactive provision (for the period from October 1, 1960, through June 30, 1961) above, cost the District government $7,500 during the first half of fiscal year 1962. Normal increase in compensation payments to claimants on the rolls, by virtue of this new law applicability, added another $5,500 during this period. Thus, the total additional cost above estimates caused by Public Law 87-339 amounted to $13,000 during the first half of fiscal year 1962. (2) The incidence of claim for permanent and temporary disability took an unprecedented increase over the previous year's experience and the projection for 1962. During the period July 1-December 31, 1961, there were 221 claims filed, as compared with 143 in the comparable fiscal year 1961 period, and 160 planned. This resulted in an average increase of $3,500 per monthly payroll of compensation payments, or $21,000 for the first half. (3) Hospital charges increased approximately $7,000 due to the higher incidence of claimants hospitalized because of injuries sustained. The 10 percent increase in rates, effective July 1, 1961, had already been taken into account in the fiscal year 1962 financial planning. (4) Billings for services of physicians increased $5,100 over estimates due not only to the higher incidence of claims paid, but because of the use of private physicians and specialists in lieu of those of the U.S. Public Health Service. The decision in the latter item is not one made or influenced by the District government. Additionally, the Federal Bureau of Employees' Compensation, which is charged with the responsibility of approving these billings for payment, no longer adheres to a fee schedule for services rendered by physicians and surgeons to whom cases are referred. Experience of the first half of the fiscal year is prima facie evidence that a subsatial variation from estimates will result in the second half. As mentioned earlier, $150,000 was projected, but upward revision is required based on the following factors: (1) Additional 6-month impact of Public Law 87-339, $5,500. (2) Additional 6-month impact of compensation payments to increased number of claimants gained in first half, based on the assumption that 60 percent will remain for the entire period, $12,500. (3) Additional 6-month hospital and physicians' charges for the increased claimants gained in the first half, based on the assumption that 65 percent of these will be classified as permanent disabilities and in need of services for the full period, $9,000. (4) Based on the experience that claims increase approximately 6 percent in the second half, and taking the 221 claims actually filed in the first half as a new base, the original projection of 170 is revised upward to 235. These additional 65 claims are estimated to cost the District of Columbia $33,000 for all types of services (using the experienced average of $1,400 per claim per year divided by 2). Application of funds Employees disability compensation (other services). Total $60,000 (a) Examination, $759.-Public Law 87-280 which provides for the examination, licensing, and regulation of physical therapists in the District of Columbia was approved on September 2, 1961. As it is now the public has no protection against any unqualified person who wishes to practice physical therapy, because there is no specific legal control over physical therapists. This is unfair to the physical therapists and the public since licensure is necessary to maintain standards for the profession. Licensing would permit the trained, qualified physical therapist to identify himself to the public and the public would then have the security of knowing that all licensed physical therapists had met the standards for physical therapy practice. There are an estimated 150 physical therapists in Washington who qualify for licenses. Position, grade, title, and/or item: Intermittent-Honoraria for Board members. $750 (b) Processing and issuance, $2,050.-To service the Physical Therapy Board and to carry out the administrative and clerical duties involved in the administration of Public Law 87-280, it will be necessary to employ one permanent GS-4 clerk for the fourth quarter of 1962. The addition 1 work involved in the administration of the Physical Therapy Board will include the disseminating to applicants and the general public information concerning general policies, procedures, and regulations governing the licensing of physical therapists; assisting applicants with filing applications. reviewing applications for accuracy, planning the agenda and recording the minutes of the Board; and reviewing and answering correspondence. |