Question: How much funding would be required to increase the citywide language stipend to the DCHS pilot amount? (Councilman Aguirre)
Response:
The language stipend program is currently funded with $300,000 in contingency, managed by the Department of Human Resources, the City Manager’s Office, and the Office of Communications and Public Information. Funding covers the following costs:
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$55 language proficiency test for employees wishing to qualify
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$0.50 per hour worked for qualifying employees[1]
Current funding levels provide for approximately 290 employees to test for and receive the stipend for a full calendar year.[2] Assuming no additional employees applied for the program, increasing the stipend to the pilot’s $1.15 per hour would require an additional $370,000, for total funding of $670,000.[3]
[1] This does not include holidays, PTO, etc. Estimates are based on assumption of 1960 hours worked annually.
[2] Enrollment numbers are not yet available for the City-wide program, but this amounts to roughly 12% of City employees. Approximately 14% of DCHS employees participated in the pilot, but staff expect this will be a higher than the City-wide participation rate given the pilot’s initial lack of a testing requirement and changes in program design following the pilot.
[3] 290 x 1960 x $.65 = $370,000