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Section 1: Agency Information

Number of positions filled with this proposal

1

Agency Name

Division of the Budget

Agency Code

01010

Agency Website

www.budget.state.ny.us

Career Track

Budget and Finance

Unit

Mental Hygiene Unit

Unit Description

The Division of the Budget (DOB) is an agency within the Executive Department of New York State government. The Director of the Budget is appointed by and reports to the Governor and serves as the Governor's primary advisor on fiscal issues. In this capacity, the Director, with the assistance of the Division's professional staff, prepares the annual Executive Budget pursuant to the Governor's direction and policy objectives.

Within DOB, the Mental Hygiene Unit (MHU) has the lead responsibility for the three major State agencies that develop, deliver and coordinate State and community-based services to the mentally ill, the developmentally disabled and those receiving chemical dependence treatment (the Office of Mental Health, the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, and the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services). MHU offers successful candidates a wide variety of public finance and policy experience from a multitude of often interrelated issues in the health care arena that also connect with programs and populations served in the education of the handicapped area (special education), welfare, and criminal justice. Accordingly, successful candidates in the MHU unit will be exposed to inter-unit issues and work with professionals from other Division units (notably the Health, Education, Welfare, and Public Protection Units).

As an integral member of the Mental Hygiene Unit's team of professionals, the Public Management Intern will be assigned to a team of examiners responsible for the Office of Mental Health. By assigning the Intern to a team with responsibility for one of the largest State agencies, the Intern will be exposed to the greatest variety of policy and program issues and participate in the fullest range of budget examination and policy activities of the unit. The assignment would include exposure to core public finance and policy development in State agency central office, institutional and community operations, local assistance funding to public (e.g., counties) and private entities serving the mentally ill, and capital infrastructure issues for both State and other public and private facilities used in the delivery of services.

This particular proposal deals with a position in the Mental Health section of MHU. The MHU is currently led by Chief Budget Examiner Michael Attwell, a 30-year veteran and recipient of the Division's T. Norman Hurd Award.

Section 2: Title Information

Journey Level Title

Budget Examiner

Street Address

State Capitol

City

Albany

State

NY

Zip

12224

Section 3: Supervisor Information

Name

Robert Brondi

Title

Assistant Chief Budget Examiner

Supervisor's Background

Mr. Brondi has worked in New York State government since 1984 when he joined the Division of the Budget as a Senior Budget Examiner in the Education Unit assigned to School Aid. As part of the School Aid Section, he focused on special education issues and financing. Since that time Mr. Brondi has served in progressively responsible positions in the Division for a number of areas of New York State government including Mental Health, Criminal Justice, and Labor Relations. He is currently an Assistant Chief Budget Examiner in the Mental Hygiene Unit.

During 1993 to 1994, Mr. Brondi was employed by the Office of Mental Health as Chief Budgeting Analyst for Budget and Fiscal Services. Mr. Brondi returned to the Budget Division to serve as Associate Budget Examiner in the Public Protection Unit where he was responsible for budgeting for the State's Criminal justice agencies. From 1997 to 2007, he was responsible for the Labor Relations Section in the Division - - developing workforce policies, influencing collective bargaining activities and budgeting employee health (e.g., Empire Plan) and pension benefits for the State's 197,000 Executive Branch employees.

Mr. Brondi has extensive experience in supervision and staff development and mentoring of employees. Prior to joining the Division, he performed financial management and collective bargaining with the City of Rochester. His broad experience in education, criminal justice, labor relations and health care policy and budgeting in combination with having also worked in a line State agency and local government make him well qualified to provide the intern with professional guidance and advice.

Mr. Brondi is a graduate of Syracuse University with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and a graduate of the Maxwell School of Syracuse University with a Master's degree in Public Administration.

Mr. Brondi will be assisted by Laura Rosenthal and Lisa Delehanty, two experienced M-2 team leaders who between them have 13 years working within the Division.

Section 4: Mentor Information

Name

Ann Foster

Title

Project Manager - Business Processes

Mentor's Background

Ms. Foster graduated from Siena College in 1983, and received her Certified Public Accountant's license in 1985. She was employed by KPMG (formally known as Peat Marwick) for five years in the audit department of the Albany office and rose to the level of Audit Manager. Ann joined NY State services in December 1988 and worked for over seventeen years in the Fiscal Planning Unit of the New York State Division of the Budget. She has extensive experience with State financial and fiscal affairs, governmental operations, and executive policy development. Ann joined the NYFMS Team in February of 2006, and currently is the Project Manager in charge of business processes for the Chart of Accounts/General Ledger and Budget Management.

Is mentor in the same unit/office as the supervisor?

No

Previously a PMI Mentor?

Yes

Section 5: Career Ladder

Title	Negotiating Unit	Salary Grade	Salary
Budget Examiner	M/C	18	44399
Senr Budget Examiner	M/C	23	57634
Assoc Budget Examiner	M/C	M-2	69150
Prin Budget Examiner	M/C	M-4	85067
Assnt Chief Budget Exmnr	M/C	M-5	94543
Budget Examiner	M/C	18	44399

Section 6: Intern Assignments

Activity

Overview of Intern assignment

Description

The intern will be assigned to a full time position within the Office of Mental Health section of the Mental Hygiene Unit with a full portfolio of responsibilities that include some combination of State Operations and Local Assistance programs, as well as direct or assisted capital budgeting experience. The Mental Health section oversees all facets of the over $5 billion public mental health system for New York, highlighted by such key program areas as adult mental health services, children and youth mental health services, services to mentally ill criminal justice populations, civilly committed sex offenders, the homeless mentally ill and mentally ill chemical abusers, and discrete research programs into the causes and treatment of mental illness. An assignment in the Mental Health area offers exposure and experience in a variety of cutting edge public policy concerns, including: Medicaid and Medicare reform, insurance parity for mental illness; interagency cross-over populations such as persons with both mental illness and chemical dependence, suicide prevention and education; specialized treatment services for children and youth; community housing for special needs populations; institutional downsizing and expansion of community-based care; recruitment and retention of non-profit work force, etc.

Assignment to this unit offers a unique opportunity for the Intern to participate in both the dynamics of Medicaid reform as it unfolds at both the national and State levels and in efforts to reconfigure the wide array of mental health services in New York State.

Activity

Review and analyze the Office of Mental Health's budget requests.

Description

The Intern would be required to review and analyze OMH's budget requests for program priorities and appropriation levels for existing operations and new initiatives in assigned areas of responsibility (e.g., Adult Services; Children's Services, etc). Moreover, the Intern would be required to analyze complex and politically sensitive budget proposals, as well as develop strategies to streamline agency operations and achieve budgetary savings. These activities will develop and enhance the Intern's analytic skills necessary for the effective and comprehensive review of agency budgetary and programmatic proposals, including the identification of critical policy and fiscal issues and recommending appropriate actions for problem resolution.

In addition, the Intern would be required to review Agency spending plans and monitor fiscal and program operations for consistency with the Enacted Budget. Also, the Intern would be responsible for assisting in the development of expenditure and work force projections and would monitor Agency compliance with spending limitations.

Activity

Prepare and review budget documents and bills for Office of Mental Health.

Description

The Intern would prepare and review a variety of Executive budget documents for the Office of Mental Health, including public documents explaining the recommendations in the Governor's budget, as well as appropriation bills and budgetary legislation. The Intern would also review legislative appropriation bills and gain an understanding of the State budget process and the ability to draft effective legislation and appropriation language.

In addition, the Intern would be required to review and analyze legislative bills proposed by State agencies or passed by the Legislature in the mental health area, to determine the subject and purpose of the proposal, identify key arguments in support of and possible objections to the proposed change in law, determine the State and local budgetary impact of the proposal and to make recommendations to the Director of the Budget and the Governor's Office on the overall merits of these proposals. Such analysis and review would often involve collaboration with Governor's Counsel and other Division of Budget units and State agencies due to the nature of the legislation and "cross-over" populations.

Activity

Review and analyze community capital projects

Description

The Intern's portfolio could cover specific initiatives to expand the service system for persons with mental illness. Accordingly, the Intern would review specific capital project proposals, analyze their components, discuss them, as necessary, with agency program and architectural staff, and recommend their disposition (including any amendments) to unit management. Interns would also be responsible for analyzing assigned operating reimbursement rates for specific program models, each with its own reimbursement rate methodology. Rate reviews would focus on the consistency of the proposed rate or rate appeal with rate methodologies and client characteristics and program needs, and to avoid precedent setting reimbursement actions affecting this and other human service populations and programs.

Activity

Capital Budgeting/Mental Hygiene Bonding Program

Description

As part of the budget making process, the Intern will be exposed to the development of the Office of Mental Health's Five Year Capital Program and Financing Plan which includes projected appropriations, disbursements and commitments, as well as the drafting and review of capital related public documents as well as appropriation and reappropriation bill copy. During budget execution, the Intern would also be exposed to reviewing capital spending plans, individual capital project requests and change orders, capital certificates of approval, and the monthly monitoring of capital spending by fund against established spending estimates.

With respect to the Mental Hygiene Bonding Program, the intern might attend and represent the Division at monthly working group meetings held at the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) and participate in the review and update of all documents, including the Prospectus, related to the annual issuance of tax exempt bonds.

Activity

Revenue Forecasting/Monitoring

Description

As part of the budget making process, the Intern will be exposed to appropriate agency and budget staff in the development of recommendations to maximize the receipt of Federal patient revenues. Currently, the Mental Hygiene agencies receive more than $2.8 Billion in patient revenues -- including Medicaid, Medicare and Third Party Health Insurance -- that are pledged to pay for debt service costs associated with outstanding Mental Hygiene bonds before they are used to offset State Mental Hygiene spending. On a monthly basis, the Intern would participate in monitoring the receipt of the revenues against established estimates to ensure that the revenues are used to offset agency General Fund spending in accordance with the Financial Plan.

Activity

Various Special Projects and Field Visits in the Mental Health Area

Description

In addition to ongoing fiscal oversight responsibilities, the Public Management Intern will have the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of project assignments such as program evaluation, fiscal and policy analyses, organizational reviews and new program development. Typically, the Intern's involvement might be in such areas of concern as: Medicaid reimbursement rate-setting and revenue generation; litigation strategies; productivity initiatives including facility closures and consolidations, as well as researching and developing innovative cost containment initiatives in such areas as pharmaceutical usage, personnel deployment, and energy usage; managed care for special populations initiatives; the impact of welfare reform on Mental Hygiene populations; State-Local relations, particularly with respect to the resorting of fiscal, program and policy arrangements; Federal-State relations, particularly with respect to changes in aid formulas, block grant funding, and program requirements; or regulatory oversight, especially regarding the management of the non-profit, voluntary agency sector. Finally, the Intern can expect to conduct comparative research, either individually or as part of a team, into other key states' finance and program activities in the mental health area, to ascertain the viability of different approaches to financing comparable activities in New York State, or to possibly justify increases or reductions to financial support levels.

In addition, the intern will have the opportunity to represent the Division and, on occasion, travel throughout the State and visit State- and locally-operated programs for the mentally ill. The purpose of such field visits is to gain insight into the various programs and the populations they serve, understand the issues that confront them and how the State administrative and budgeting structure could potentially address them, and act as "goodwill ambassadors" for the Division to market and explain Division or Administration policies that affect the Mental Health area.

Section 7: Development Activities

Intra-departmental Activities

In addition to any internal unit training, the Division of the Budget has an extensive training program for all of its employees. More than 100 training sessions are conducted annually, including Budget Examination Skills Training (BEST) sessions, written communication workshops, Support Staff sessions and a variety of MS Office computer classes. In addition to these training sessions, a two-day New Examiner Institute is held where new DOB employees have an opportunity to meet with the Division's highest level managers and learn about the role of a budget examiner in the Division.

The Division also maintains an online e-Learning library, which includes fifteen courses designed to complement the face-to-face Budget Examiners Skills Training (BEST) sessions.

Computer classes are conducted in our on-site computer training facility. Subjects covered in the computer classes have included all levels of training in the Microsoft Office Suite (Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word), and various classes in FrontPage, SAS, Dreamweaver and Windows XP.

Other classes consist of topics such as behavioral interviewing, employee performance appraisals, effective communication, time management, proofreading skills, grammar and vocabulary. Policy-related courses on fraud and ethics, sexual harassment prevention, workplace violence prevention, information technology security and reasonable accommodations are also offered.

Training opportunities are regularly announced within the Division via the Division's intranet and online calendar. In addition, if there are specific training needs not covered by the classes offered, the Training Office works with supervisors and employees to arrange training to meet those needs.

Inter-departmental Activities

The intern will be encouraged to participate in specific training and conferences supported by the Office of Mental Health and its vast provider network. Consideration will also be given to out-of-State and national conferences if they prove to be highly relevant to the PMI's portfolio.

The Division participates in a consortium of State agencies working together to offer a wide range of training in various locations across the state. The Division also routinely receives invitations to participate in training programs offered by other State agencies and organizations, such as the Office of the State Comptroller, the Department of Civil Service, the Governor's Office of Employee Relations, the Office of General Services and the State Legislature to discuss functions, trends and problems in their program areas and their relation to the Budget Division. The examiner will have opportunities to routinely apply this formal training in the work setting.

External-Professional Activities

The Division of the Budget is an active member of the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO). Division employees are almost always included in the roster of officers. Most recently, Lisa Timoney, Senior Manager, of the Division's Education Unit, was the recipient of the John E. Burton Eastern Regional Award in recognition of her outstanding contributions and service to public budgeting and management in state government.

We send several employees and Interns to the NASBO annual conference and participate in various activities and programs throughout the year. Several of our employees attended an Introductory Seminar on State Budgeting in Washington, D.C, in August of 2007. Often a Division employee is a facilitator or keynote speaker. These and other NASBO events prove to be great forums for networking and sharing best practices strategies and there is ample opportunity for a new Intern to become an integral player in this organization.

In addition, the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) and the International Personnel Management Association (IPMA) have local chapters in the Albany area. These organizations have several membership meetings throughout the year.

The Division believes that these organizations are important professional development tools, and we encourage interns to participate in these organizations. The Human Resources office will ensure that Interns are aware of scheduled meetings and events occurring throughout the year.

Section 8: Rotational Assignments

Agency Code

Office of Mental Health

Location

Albany

Program Area

Described in description

Is rotation internal or external?

External

Duration

3-6 Weeks

Description

Program Area: Mutually chosen by the Intern and the Supervisor based on Intern's assignments and interest (e.g., Children's Services policy development in OMH's Central Office, or Adult Services delivery in a State Psychiatric facility, etc.).

The temporary rotational assignment would occur during the summer of 2009 and would enhance the Intern's professional development and experience. The intern would typically be assigned to one bureau within the Office of Mental Health or a local State Psychiatric Center to spend up to two-months working on a range of activities designed to provide greater insight into Agency operations.

The Central Office rotation would concentrate on an area of expertise related to the Intern's assignments with the Division of the Budget, and the intern would work for the bureau director on a project designed to improve Agency operations by providing a management review or analysis of a specific issue.

The facility rotation would be designed to provide the Intern with hands-on experience in the operations of a State hospital including administrative, human resources, clinical, and quality assurance functions. The intern would shadow facility managers and provide assistance in day-to-day operations for the hospital.

Agency Code

Division of the Budget

Location

Albany

Program Area

Medicaid

Is rotation internal or external?

Internal

Duration

3-6 Weeks

Description

Intern would gain more in-depth exposure to Medicaid funding and policy issues not only relating to their mental health programs but also to the wider spectrum of NYS health care models (hospitals, nursing homes, home health care, etc.) and innovative proposals such as local Medicaid takeover.

If the candidate is interested in exposure to an entirely different policy area, an alternative rotation could involve another State agency, or another unit in the Division of the Budget. In this instance, the rotation could take a number of directions, including:

- Increased understanding of staff unit operations within the Division of the Budget which cut across programs and provide a statewide viewpoint;

- In depth exploration of a single programmatic area; or

- Exposure to an entirely different policy area.

Additionally, all examiners within the Mental Hygiene Unit can expect regular rotational assignments within the Unit as part of a strategy to enhance employee development and promote the distribution of expertise within the Unit.