City Administrator Allen Y. Lew has described himself as a carrot man. I’m more of a stick girl — blame my Catholic upbringing. Laws must be enforced, vigorously. Violators must be punished. But, Lew could be onto something with his Workforce Incentive Program.
“What we’re trying to do is build a work force,” he told me, defending his all-carrot initiative and providing temporary relief from the D.C. Council’s continuing investigation into Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s hiring practices.
Despite the scandal, Gray and Lew have said they’re focused on job creation. The Workforce Incentive Program could alter the city’s enforcement of the First Source Act, offering cash bonuses to Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization contractors who bring District residents onto their payrolls.
The First Source Act mandates 50 percent of all “new hires” on government-financed construction projects be local residents. That phrase “new hires” has been called a critical flaw in the law. In reality, many companies use the same work force from job to job, resulting in few vacancies.
But, if a contractor needs 10 new workers, for example, by law he’s required to fill only five of those positions with District residents. That has led to puny results. Even the best efforts have fallen short, said Lew. Only 22 percent of the people on previous school construction projects were residents.
The WIP would focus on hours worked by District residents — not new hires. Lew has set the target participation at 35 percent, pledging to help companies find qualified workers; a job fair was held Saturday.
General contractors hired for six school projects that meet Lew’s target would receive a 5 percent bonus against their total fees. Subcontractors would receive 10 percent of the total hours paid to District residents. For example: 10,500 hours at $25 per hour would result in a $262,500 payroll; the subcontractor bonus would be $26,250.
“I wanted something small enough in scope [that] it wouldn’t take a year to complete,” said Lew, adding the construction projects have a total $55.6 million budget.
This stick girl rejects the idea of paying people to follow the law when they already work for the government. The administration hasn’t completely abandoned its stick. Lew said the mayor has sent warning letters to 25 First Source violators.
He also said WIP isn’t expensive. Total cash incentives would be about 1.04 percent of the total construction budget; that could increase to 1.45 percent, if contractors reached the 50 percent mark. Lew said income taxes collected from newly employed District residents “would far exceed” the expense of the program.
“If these are important goals, then we should put our money where our mouths are,” said Lew, adding the administration would evaluate results before deciding whether to take WIP citywide.
One thing’s already clear to me: Significantly reducing the city’s unemployment rate will take more than a government-funded summer fling.
Jonetta Rose Barras’ column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
