Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today released the Preliminary Mayor's Management Report (PMMR) for Fiscal Year 2006. The PMMR provides a snapshot of how the City performed four months into the fiscal year, and forecasts expected levels of service based on the City's Preliminary Budget. The report shows continued strong performance in the delivery of City services. Vital services were largely maintained or improved during the reporting period. City agencies are projecting performance for FY 2007 to look much the same as in FY 2006.

"The early results contained in this report indicate that our agencies are continuing the excellent record of achievement seen over the past four years, including advances in education, public safety, quality of life, and the health and welfare of New Yorkers," said Mayor Bloomberg. "The Preliminary Mayor's Management Report continues to document the City's ability to deliver effective and efficient government services."

In addition to agency performance statistics, the PMMR shows information generated by the 311 Citizen Service Center. 311 has transformed the way City residents interact with government. Calls to 311 rose to nearly 4.2 million, an 11% increase, during the first four months of FY 2006 compared with the same period last year. As part of this increase, 311 handled 56% more non-English-speaking calls.

The following highlights some of the preliminary results shown in the FY 2006 PMMR. Unless otherwise noted, the trends described below compare July-October 2004 to July-October 2005.

Public Safety

• Crime is down: The number of major felony crimes dropped by 4% from 49,690 to 47,472. FBI statistics for the first half of Calendar 2005 show that New York preserved its place as the safest large city in the United States.

• Homicides fell to a record low: For the fourth consecutive year, there were fewer than 600 murders in New York City. Murders declined from 572 in Calendar 2004 to 540 in Calendar 2005, the lowest since 1963.

• Police Department responded more quickly to crimes in progress: Response times to crimes in progress averaged seven minutes 30 seconds, improving by six seconds.

• Major felony crimes decreased in public housing and transit: Major felony crimes in the transit system fell by 11%, from 1,125 to 999. The success of ongoing crime reduction strategies led to a continued drop in major felony crimes in public housing developments, from 1,854 to 1,834.

• Response times to structural fires were slower: Citywide response times to structural fires averaged 14 seconds slower at 4 minutes 37 seconds, due in part to a 10% increase in total fire unit incidents. The Fire Department is taking steps to speed fire unit dispatch and lower travel times.

• Medical emergency response times met targeted goals: Ambulances responded to life-threatening medical emergencies two seconds faster, for an average of six minutes 42 seconds. Fire units' response to these emergencies rose by four seconds, to an average of 4 minutes 37 seconds but the Fire Department continues to meet its targets.

• Civilian fire fatalities increased: Civilian fire fatalities rose to 22 during the first four months of FY 2006; this was eight more than the same months of FY 2005. Total fatalities in FY 2003, 2004 and 2005 were 109, 106 and 91 respectively.

Quality of Life

• 311 call volumes continued to rise: Calls to the 311 Citizen Service Center rose by 11%, totaling nearly 4.2 million calls during the first four months of FY 2006. The percentage of calls answered in 30 seconds or less increased sharply to 74% while the call takers' time occupied remained nearly constant at 72%. The most frequent requests for services included noise complaints, curbside removal of appliances with Freon and CFC (chlorofluorocarbon) gas, and landlord maintenance complaints.

• Street cleanliness ratings surpassed the 31-year record established in FY 2005: Four months into the fiscal year, the City reached a new level of street cleanliness with 92.9% of City streets rated acceptably clean, compared to 91.4% for the same months of the previous year.

• Pothole repairs surpassed previous high: Pothole repairs went up 5% when compared to the same reporting period last year, from 35,193 to 36,942. All repairs were completed within 30 days.

• Parks condition ratings were at or close to target levels: Four months into the fiscal year the Department of Parks and Recreation was at or close to meeting its performance goals for park and playground cleanliness, condition and safety ratings.

• Tree maintenance goals exceeded: The percentage of trees removed within 30 days rose significantly from 87% to 97%. The Department of Parks and Recreation's block-by-block pruning program pruned 10,000 trees, an increase of nearly 700.

• Recycling tonnage and diversion rates declined: Department of Sanitation recycling rates were impacted by a national trend of decreasing newspaper readership and circulation. Total tons recycled fell from 803 to 651, while the curbside and containerized diversion rate slipped from 16.5% to 16.3%. However, the recycling of metal, glass and plastic remained relatively constant.

• Traffic fatalities were up: Traffic fatalities went up from the previous reporting period's low of 106 to 130.

• Sewers and catch basins were cleared faster: The Department of Environmental Protection's average time to resolve sewer backup complaints dropped by 30 minutes to 6 hours. Catch basin complaints were addressed in 6 days, compared to 7 days for the prior reporting period.

Education

• Class sizes for grades K-9 continued to fall: At the end of October 2005 average class sizes were smaller than at the same time last year for all grade levels except kindergarten. The proportion of students in classes of 29 or more in grades 1-3 fell from 1.8% to 1.4% over the same period.

• School safety continued to improve: Major felony crime and violent crime in schools decreased by 6% and 8%, respectively, due in large part to the Impact Schools initiative launched in January 2004. Major felony and violent crime in the 11 current Impact schools are down substantially during the first four months of FY 2006, decreasing 69% and 41% respectively. The six Impact schools that transitioned out of Impact status this year continue to report steep declines in major felony and violent crime.

• Attendance rates declined slightly overall, but rose for high school students: While elementary and middle grade attendance fell from 93.9% for September-October of 2004 to 93.2% for the same months of 2005, high school attendance rose from 82.3% to 82.5% over the same period.

• Student performance improved in mathematics: Results now available for the 2004-2005 School Year show that the proportion of students in grades 3-8 meeting or exceeding math standards rose from 46.7% to 52.9%. This was the largest one-year gain since standards-based testing began.

• Regents examination results showed overall progress: Based on results now available for the last school year, the percent of public school students passing required Regents exams rose from 43.4% to 47.3%. More students achieved a passing score of 55 on all five Regents exams. However, the proportion of students achieving a 65 score declined on three exams - English, U.S. history and government, and Global history - while increasing for the Math and Science exams.

• More students graduated from high school in four years or are still enrolled in school for a fifth year: Although the percent of students graduating after four years declined slightly from 54.3% in 2004 to 53.2% in 2005, the percent of students either graduating or still enrolled in school increased from 83.7% to 84.8%. This indicates that more students are opting to stay in school at least an additional year to work towards graduation. Although some students have always remained in school for a fifth year, the increase from 29.4% in 2004 to 31.6% in 2005 appears to reflect the recent change in requirements for a Regents diploma. More of these students are on track to obtain either a Regents or an Advanced Regents diploma.

• Parent coordinators continued to provide more assistance: Parent coordinators assigned by the Department of Education to the public schools responded to 46% more phone calls during September-December 2005 than during the same time frame last year, and the number of parents assisted on a walk-in basis rose by 25%. Parent attendance at workshops arranged by the coordinators rose by 24%.

• The Department of Education remains on schedule to complete the portion of the Five-Year Capital Plan that is City-funded: DOE expects to create 4,287 new seats in time for the start of the next school year in September 2006. The timeliness of the entire Capital Plan, however, is at risk due to the State's failure to provide its fair share of funding as mandated by court order in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit.

• School construction cost decreased: The average bid price for new school construction, based on three new contracts awarded during the first four months of FY 2006, fell to $354 per square foot, slightly lower than the FY 2005 annual level.

Human Services

• Affordable housing construction starts and completions on the rise: Under the New Housing Marketplace Plan construction started on 5,358 units, a 66% increase from the 3,221 units started during July to October 2004. Construction completions increased by more than 70% from 1,561 to 2,667.

• The number of new families and single adults entering the homeless shelter system dropped: The number of new families and adults entering the shelter system dropped by 10% for families and 5% for single adults. The average daily shelter census fell by nearly 10% for families and 7% for single adults.

• Placements in permanent housing rose for homeless single adults but fell for families: Placements of homeless single adults in permanent housing rose by 8%, while family placements dropped by 5%. The Department of Homeless Services expects to increase all placements through its newly implemented rental assistance program, Housing Stability Plus.

• Response time to child abuse reports increased: The proportion of child abuse and/or neglect reports responded to within 24 hours fell from 98.0% to 93.9%. The proportion of children with repeat substantiated investigations rose slightly, from 11.0% to 11.7%. The Administration for Children's Services is hiring caseworkers, managers and other significant staff and reinforcing all casework policies and procedures, including appropriate investigations and accurate documentation.

• Foster care population at the lowest level in almost 20 years: The foster care population is now lower than at any time since FY 1987. The proportion of children placed with relatives rose from 22% to 24%, and the proportion of siblings placed together remained stable at over 91%.

• Fewer people on public assistance: The number of people receiving public assistance is 5% below the same point last year. The number of public assistance recipients and applicants placed into jobs was down by 6%, paralleling the decrease in the public assistance caseload. At the same time, the number of recipients of food stamps and of public health insurance have each grown by 4%, with the largest increases occurring among persons not receiving public assistance or federal Supplemental Security Income.

• Felony crime related to domestic violence declined while services increased: The number of domestic violence related felonies declined by 8%. Participants in the Human Resources Administration's non-residential domestic violence programs rose by 26%, to just over 2,900 clients, and the number of emergency beds made available by HRA for domestic violence victims increased from 1,915 to 1,995.

• Day care complaints remained stable as inspections increased: The number of day care complaints remained stable, but the number of sites inspected increased by 44%.

• Hours of home care for seniors grew: The number of hours of home care services provided increased by 10%, while the cost per hour of providing these services rose by 1%.

• Processing times for seniors' rent increase exemptions remained at the lowest level in years: The average time to process applications for rent increase exemptions was 18 days, compared with a 34-day average during FY 2005. Processing times were also lower than the Department for the Aging's annual goal.

• The proportion of working families living in public housing was higher: Over 42% of public housing residents are working families, up from 40.8%.

Health

• Rapid HIV testing focuses on early detection: The number of people tested by the City for HIV increased by 17%.

• Number of syphilis cases dropped: For the first time in four years, the number of people with syphilis has dropped by 9%.

• More West Nile Virus cases during the past summer: There was an increase in the number of people who contracted the West Nile virus, increasing from five cases in Summer 2004 to 14 in Summer 2005. Hotter and drier weather was conducive to mosquito breeding.

• Childhood immunization rates remained high: 90.6% of public school children completed all required immunizations as of the end of October 2005, virtually the same as at the year before.

• New cases of lead poisoning continued to decline: The number of new childhood lead poisoning cases requiring environmental intervention fell by nearly 9% to 386 cases for the first four months of FY 2006. The Health Department inspected 89% of the primary addresses associated with these cases within a 7-day time frame.

• Pest control complaints leveled off: Rodent complaints have leveled off, rising by less than 2% after more rapid growth in previous years.

• Compliance with regulations prohibiting tobacco sales to minors recovered: More stores complied with regulations prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to minors. Overall compliance at inspected stores rose from 81% to 84%, and the proportion of second time offenders fell from 30% to 17%.

Economy

• City's construction activity continued to thrive: The number of building permit applications filed with the Department of Buildings grew by 8%, from 23,985 to 25,911, while the average time to complete first reviews of plans remained well below established targets.

• More building complaints were responded to in a timely manner: Despite the continued growth in the number of reported problems, the Department of Buildings handled the increased volume and still exceeded targets by responding to 96.5% of emergencies and 85.2% of non-emergencies within established timeliness standards.

• Response times to maintenance complaints in public housing increased but were generally within targets: Emergencies, non-emergencies and heat complaints took longer to resolve but response times were still better than established standards. The average time to respond to elevator complaints went up by close to one hour to 6.3 hours, higher than the target of 5 hours.

• The number of newly certified Minority and Women Owned Businesses lagged: Compared to recent historic high marks, there was a 27 percent drop in the number of newly certified Minority and Women Owned Businesses. The drop off in new registrants and certifications is attributable to one time gains that were achieved as a result of prior year efforts to provide businesses with greater access to these programs and to expedite the certification process.

• Unemployment dropped and commercial district occupancy rates showed improvement: During the first four-months of FY 2006, the City's unemployment rate improved by 1.4 percentage points when compared to performance a year ago, finishing the period at 6.8%. Occupancy rates in the City's commercial districts remain strong with modest growth of 0.4 percentage points. According to the latest New York State Department of Labor data, the overall unemployment rate for Calendar Year 2005 was 5.8%, the lowest since 2000, and the average number of residents employed was 3.51 million, the highest since comparable employment data collection began in 1978