STATEMENT OF F. NORDY HOFFMANN

Mr. Chairman, in compliance with the budget and accounting procedures which have been established by your Committee, we are submitting our budget recommendations for fiscal year 1980 which we are requesting to be included in the President's Budget.

Our budget proposals are summarized in the series of charts included in this statement which have been prepared for each department under our jurisdiction. The charts show the allocation of our resources by department and function, and we propose to discuss our recommendations in the order in which they appear in the charts. For the purpose of reference, specific recommendations discussed in our statement can be identified from the charts by locating the corresponding number in parentheses appearing in the right hand column of the charts.

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE

The Administrative Office of the Sergeant at Arms exercises jurisdictional oversight and coordination of all functions and departments assigned to the Sergeant at Arms. Budgetary items controlled by the Sergeant at Arms and not assigned to a specific department are included here.

Expenses:

(1) We are recommending an increase in the GSA State

Office Rental Allowance of $907,653 which will raise this account from $2,292,347 to $3,200,000 for fiscal year 1980. This increase is necessary to cover projected higher rental rates, and in anticipation of additional state offices to be opened by Senators to which they are entitled by the state office allowance formula.

There is a potential liability in this account in

excess of $4,000,000 if each Senator were to fully utilize his entitlement; however, based upon our past experience, we believe our request will adequately cover our anticipated need for FY 1980.

(2) We are requesting an increase in the GSA State Office Alterations Account of $600 to bring this account into compliance with your Committee's directive that our major accounts should be stated in thousand dollar amounts.

(3) We are recommending that the GSA State Office Furniture, Furnishings, and Equipment Allowance be increased in the amount of $494,000; from $356,000 to $850,000 for FY 1980. This increase is requested to cover anticipated higher costs for furniture, furnishings, and equipment and to furnish such additional state offices that may be established by Senators. The potential liability in this account if each Senator fully utilized his entitlement is in excess of $2,000,000; however, based upon past experience, we believe that our request will adequately serve the needs and requests of the Senators during FY 1980.

(4) We are requesting that the GSA State Office

Commercial Office Allowance be increased by $897,000; from $902,200 to $1,800,000 to cover increased rental costs and to pay for additional offices opened by Senators.

As in the case of the state office furniture, furnishings, and equipment allowance, our potential liability in this account is in excess of $2,000,000; however, we are basing our request upon our experience.

(5) We are recommending that the allowance for Committees' and Officials' Telegrams be decreased from $24,530 to

$23,000, for a reduction of $1,530. This recommendation is based upon our determination that utilization of this allowance will decrease from the level anticipated in FY 1978 and FY 1979.

(6)

Sergeant at Arms Travel Authority. For Fiscal

year 1980, we are recommending that the Travel Authority allowance of the Office of the Sergeant at Arms (P.L. 94-303 as amended) be increased from a total of $25,000 to a new total of $147,000. Although we are projecting no increased travel costs for our Administrative Office or Service Department and therefore project their allocations of the total to remain at $13,000 and $2,000 respectively, professional travel for the Computer Center in support of state office services is expected to increase substantially, with the need to increase the Computer Center allocation from its total of $10,000 to $132,000 for a net increase of $122,000.

(7) We are requesting the allowance for Administrative Office Contingencies be decreased from $47,500 to $39,000, for a reduction of $8,500.

NEWS GALLERIES

We anticipate no significant changes in the operations

of the Daily Press Gallery, Radio-Television Gallery, Press

Photographers' Gallery, or Periodical Press Gallery in FY 1980, and therefore recommend that these sections remain at their

current levels of operation.

SERVICE DEPARTMENT

Salaries:

( 8 ) For FY 1980 we are requesting one position of Power Cutter Operator at N.T.E, $12,663 and two Photostat Operators at N.T.E. $12,663 each. The Power Cutter position, which would be located in our Duplicating Section, is required to handle the cutting and trimming of the large volume of letters and correspondence being produced by the Correspondence Management System and other automatic typing equipment. Ina's much as the CMS program is in a rapidly expanding mode, as is the volume of mail being processed in the Senate in general, this position will be a full-time responsibility by the beginning of FY 1980.

The two Photostat Operator positions are required to provide expanded services to the Senate offices located in the annex buildings. Copy centers have been set up in these facilities in lieu of locating copy machines in each individual

The

office. This system has proved to be both efficient and satisfactory to the users, and the demand for this service requires that we make it available on an increasing basis. ( 9 ) We are requesting one position of Senior Folding Machine Operator at N.T.E. $14,553 in lieu of one Laborer at N.T.E. $10,962 and one Automatic Typewriter Repairman at N.T.E. $18,522 in lieu of one Repairman at $17,388. Senior Folding Machine Operator position is being created for use during the night shift and this person would be responsible for training new operators as well as repairing and maintaining the folding machine equipment. The person presently holding the Laborer position is, in reality, operating a folding machine. With the authorization of the Senior Folding Machine Operator position, it is our intention of promoting the Laborer into a regular Folding Machine Operator position and promoting one of our Folding Machine Operators to the supervisory

Senior Folding Machine Operator position.

The increase for the Automatic Typing Repairman is requested to correct an oversight in our FY 1979 budget, at which time we requested and received increases for the Automatic Typewriter Repairmen. This position was traditionally

occupied by a repairman who had the capability of repairing regular typewriters, but not the sophisticated automatic typing equipment. In more recent years the incumbent employee has acquired the same type of training, and hence we feel this position increase is justified based upon the level of