The preliminary Mayor's Management Report, released Thursday, covers the first four months of fiscal year 2006 _ July through October. The good news included continuing lower crime, cleaner streets and a plateau in the number of rodent complaints.
The Fire Department's response time jumped by a citywide average of 14 seconds, from 4 minutes 23 seconds to 4 minutes 37 seconds, the report said. In Brooklyn, the increase was 20 seconds.
Fire response times up in annual city report
A report card measuring city services showed that fire response times increased, the child welfare agency was slower to investigate reports of abuse and the high school graduation rate went down.
The preliminary Mayor’s Management Report, released Thursday, covers the first four months of fiscal year 2006 _ July through October. The good news included continuing lower crime, cleaner streets and a plateau in the number of rodent complaints.
The Fire Department’s response time jumped by a citywide average of 14 seconds, from 4 minutes 23 seconds to 4 minutes 37 seconds, the report said. In Brooklyn, the increase was 20 seconds.
“We are addressing it and we are seeing a decline,” said Fire Department spokesman Frank Gribbon. The citywide average last month was 4 minutes 28 seconds, he said.
The city said in the report that the problem is expected to improve this spring when an office renovation is completed. The project, which began in January of last year, required the dispatch operations for Brooklyn and Queens to be combined.
The report also showed problems at the child welfare agency, which is still reeling from the recent case of a little girl who was beaten to death in her home several months after officials first learned of suspected abuse.
The percentage of abuse reports investigated within 24 hours fell to 93.9 percent from 98 percent for the same period in the previous fiscal year.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Commissioner John Mattingly have announced a shakeup at the agency to address its problems. They have put more money in the agency’s budget, reshuffled its staff and accelerated the hiring of more caseworkers.
The high school graduation rate also went down slightly. The percentage of students graduating in four years decreased to 53.2 percent last year from 54.3 percent the previous school year.
“Clearly we’re watching it carefully because all our policies and reforms are geared toward increasing the success rate of our students,” said Lori Mei, head of testing. She added that the percentage of students still enrolled for a fifth year has been increasing.
The Department of Education said it was aiming for a 57 percent four-year graduation rate this year and a 59 percent rate in 2007.
