Salary Review Report Special Consultant Level II
(Mental Health Standards and Services)

Presented to the Salary Review Panel
March 19, 2007

Local 154
AFSCME
DC 37

Title: Special Consultant (MHSS)
Code Number: 051001 Introduction

      This paper documents the need for salary review for the job title Special Consultant Level II at the Division of Mental Hygiene of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (the Department, or DOHMH). In the past four years, the Department has undergone several reorganizations and Special Consultants, a title unique to this Division, now perform a myriad of new functions and activities. Current job descriptions no longer match the one now on file with DCAS. Recent work activities are documented within the body of this paper, and will demonstrate that Special Consultants are performing beyond their job description and are significantly underpaid.

      Special Consultants are a unique group composed of Masters level practitioners whose skill and experience exceed requirements for the Mental Health Standards and Services for the title. Tasks range from writing Requests for Proposals (RFPs), inputting program and contract information into data systems, contract oversight, program auditing, implementing quality improvement, reviewing PARS (amendments to the contracts of State licensed programs), creating questionnaires, doing presentations to the mental health community, and more.

      Special Consultants are generalists in mental health, alcohol and substance abuse; and mental retardation and developmental disabilities. They are the field staff within this Department, and have relationships with contract agencies and their constituencies. They educate agency staff and work with the Department's consumer groups, which benefit from their expertise and leadership. Without their work it would be impossible to track agency activities.

      The median tenure of Special Consultants in this position is 14 years. A number of individuals have 30 years of experience. Yet, there are no merit increases or promotional opportunities. Due to little opportunity for advancement our numbers are dwindling. Special Consultant positions that are vacated are no longer filled. It is possible that our title will be eliminated by attrition.

      During the multiple reorganizations of this Department, Special Consultants have each been reassigned several times. They have had to adapt to new roles, and new managers who often have had minimal experience in mental health. Special Consultants have provided stability and knowledge of the Department's history enabling the Division's 1200 mental hygiene's contracts worth more than 250 million dollars to operate efficiently during this transition.

      This paper will document the following areas for the consideration of the Salary Review Panel. These are:

1. jobs that produce revenue or provide cost savings
2. jobs that were contracted out but are now filled by union members
3. jobs where members' duties require significant improvements in skills and responsibilities and
4. where compensation falls significantly below counterparts in private or public sector jobs.

Jobs that produce revenue or provide cost savings.

      Special Consultants write Requests for Proposals (RFPs), which are similar to grant writing. Each proposal written brings the Department State and Federal funds and brings the city new jobs and tax revenues. In 2006 alone, three million dollars in RFPs were written by Special Consultants, and awarded to contract agencies.

      On an annual basis, contracts are transferred from the State Office of Mental Health (SOMH), Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS), and the State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD) to this Department for contract responsibility. These contracts are assigned to Special Consultants for program oversight. This includes technical assistance, program auditing, budget and contract renewal and modification, and administrative and clinical oversight of specific program types. In 2006 alone $6,566,081 dollars in contracts were transferred from the State to the Department. At a minimum of 10% the Department gains $656,608 in administrative fees for the past year to administer these contracts. The Division of Mental Hygiene has the option to hire additional staff to oversee the increased workload, but has not chosen to do this for the past number of years. Thus the workloads of the Special Consultants increase annually with no additional remuneration.

      The median salary for Special Consultants is $66,000 plus fringe benefits. Medicaid reimburses this Department for the percentage of worker time spent administering contracts that they fund. For example, a consultant who spends eighty percent of their time overseeing contracts allows the Department to claim that percentage of their salary against Medicaid dollars. Conservatively, approximately fifty percent of the Special Consultants' salary is paid by Medicaid, lowering the cost to the City to approximately $43,000 for each Special Consultant. With thirty Special Consultants and a savings of $43,000 per consultant, the savings for the city is $1,290,000.

Jobs that were contracted out but are now filled by union members

      In 2004, the average Special Consultant handled ten to fifteen contracts or twenty-five to thirty programs. In 2007, Special Consultants manage more than thirty contracts and sixty-five to seventy programs apiece. The additional programs come from numerous different sources including SOMH, OASAS, the Department of Homeless Services (DHS), and OMRDD. These programs were previously managed by State field staff that is paid at a similar or higher level than Special Consultants. Presently, the Special Consultants' workload has more than doubled. The number of consultants managing contracts has been reduced by fifty percent, as those in our title have been reassigned to other units. This additional workload is done by half the number of full time equivalents or FTEs. Thus, the Special Consultants are generating savings in two ways, first by taking over programs previously handled by State staff and, secondly by handling additional workloads due to staff shortage. The lack of an appropriate number of Special Consultants not hired to cover the increased work translates into a minimum savings to the City of $1,032,000 in salaries.

Jobs where members duties require significant improvements in their skills and responsibilities

      Currently staff works in mental health, mental retardation, and chemical dependency across the board. In the past staff was hired based on experience in only one of the three above areas and were specialists. Now program staff is called upon to learn skills in the other disciplines. This includes understanding state and local regulations, and methods of recording and analyzing agency productivity (levels of service, or LOS). Currently, there are new and various funding sources, regulations regarding staffing patterns; and the need to interface with State agencies in all disciplines noted above. Additionally, program staff are now required to implement quality improvement, and to obtain new contract and budgetary skills.

      Staff in our job title has acquired additional computer skills such as Word, Excel, Access, Power Point, data entry, and expertise in scanning operations due to the demands of our new positions. Consultants have developed work plans for quality improvement, consumer survey studies, and COPS (Medicaid supplementary payment) research projects. Survey skills include writing survey material, implementation of the survey process, data collection and analysis, report writing and distribution of reports for one project involving as many as 12,000 consumers in 112 different programs.

Jobs where compensation falls significantly below counterparts in private or public sector jobs.

      The wide array of skills and responsibilities of Special Consultants are comparable to other private and public sector jobs. The Tasks and Standards for Special Consultant are as follows: Under direction provides consultation and technical assistance service to public and voluntary agencies and facilities providing mental hygiene services by contract or agreement with a City agency, and assists in the review of service to assure compliance with the provisions of applicable laws, regulations and agreements . The Tasks and Standards for the Associate Staff Analyst (ASA) position is the same as for Special Consultant. The two titles are used interchangeably in this Department, although the Associate Staff Analyst is a citywide title. Nevertheless, the salary range for the ASA is higher.

      Research Scientist 2 has also been added for comparison due to the similarity of their tasks and standards The skill level is comparable to Special Consultant. Both ASA and Research Scientist 2 have promotional opportunities, ASA to Administrative Staff Analyst, and Research Scientist 2 to Research Scientist 3 and 4, while Special Consultant has none.

Table 1

Salary Range	Special Consultant	Associate Staff Analyst	Research Scientist 2
Hiring Rate	$55,643	$54,600	$63,315
Incumbent Rate	$63,989	$64,050
Maximum	$76,773	$82,245	$83,204

      Program Officer is the occupation in the private sector that most closely matches Special Consultant in terms of job description and job skills. The discrepancy at the highest rate is significant.

Table2

Salary Range	Program Officer	Special Consultant
Hiring Rate	$52,649 (lowest 10%)	$55,643
Special Consultant	$106,295	$76,773

Conclusions

      Special Consultants are requesting that a salary review panel consider improving our pay for all the reasons highlighted in this paper. Special consultants are a unique group composed of master level workers who are performing far beyond their job description and whose skill and experience exceed requirements for the Mental Health Standards and Services for the title. Many have more than fourteen years and as much as thirty years experience. This is despite the fact that a bachelor's degree plus several years of experience is the minimum. We recommend that a salary differential for experienced staff be created. This differential needs to be in the form of a salary increase. Additional longevity payments past the current limit of seven and a half years are needed. We request a career ladder and a salary step plan to give the title upward mobility as new skills are required and new responsibilities undertaken. We suggest the addition of a Special Consultant III position, which could include supervisory and advanced project responsibilities at an increased level of pay. We believe that the above narrative has illustrated the skills acquired by Special Consultants, the limitations of the present job title, and the need for a salary increase and career ladder.