This transmittal is the budget request for FY 1992. In summary the Budgetville Police Department is requesting an increase of 45% for the FY 1992, the ceiling, as expressed in your budget policy for FY 1992.
This increase in funds will be utilized to meet the following problems or issues:
The city has been impacted with the rise of crime, specifically burglaries and larcenies plaguing the numerous shopping centers throughout the city. Auto thefts are also raising throughout the city. Arrest records show that those living in the urban communities of Snakeville and National City mostly commit these crimes.
There are numerous theories on how to meet our current demands. The most popular is the increase of our sworn staff. We prefer to restructure the Budgetville Police Department and add 3 new non-sworn staff. With this plan we can make effective utilization of our current manpower resources and have a significant impact against the rise of crime.
It has come to our attention that there is a need for equipment for crowd control. We have entered an agreement with the Federal Prison located outside the city limits, to provide our department with equipment from the Federal Government’s DRMO Program. This program provides law enforcement agencies with equipment that the armed forces no longer need or have as surplus, at no cost to the law enforcement agencies. The Budgetville Police Department now has the opportunity to outfit the whole department with the necessary equipment at one time, rather than wait and buy items for only a portion of the department this year and the rest next.
With the scaledown of the military, the Federal Government has closed military outpost and bases throughout the United States. The Naval Reserve located on Navy Way in our city was one outpost closed. Since the Government has turned the building and grounds over to the city and the police department has been advised that it will be housed there, money has been budgeted for the transition to our new Headquarters. The Public Works Superintendent stated only telephone and computer wiring needs to be placed in the building. The Acme Phone Company has submitted a proposal that would include the wiring in their contractual obligations. This building will be more than adequate for the police department’s needs for several years to come.
With the incorporation of our proposed purchase and leasing programs, we will be able to update the Budgetville Police Department’s equipment and employee needs. The strategies listed above will provide immediate benefits to our community and successfully addresses the problems and concerns plaguing our community.
100 Personal Services
101 Salary and Wages $961,800
There are several reasons why there is dramatic increase in the budget for the Budgetville Police Department (BPD) for Fiscal Year 1992. An increase in calls is dictating that more officers be placed on the street as well as the increase in patrol with the new jobs at the brewery, which is under construction. Forecasting the needs of the future demands that BPD take a proactive approach, rather than sitting back and waiting for things to happen.
The current budget for the Budgetville Police Department has remained the same for approximately two years. During this time, there has been no pay raise for the members of the department. The surrounding area police departments have consistently stayed almost ten percent (10%) ahead of this department’s salaries. For a city of over 32,000 people, it is imperative that some type of raise be given the employees of the Budgetville Police Department before we have officers leave for higher paying jobs elsewhere. The proposed budget calls for a five percent (5%) increase across the board, for all members of the department. This is a minimum increase taking in consideration the lack of a raise for the past two (2) years. The need for each city department to factor in Pension/Health costs gave a significant raise to basic budgetary needs.
It has been determined that presently the City of Budgetville should have at least 25 officers in patrol. This is based on the research conducted by Roderick J. Bartell, Senior Police Consultant with Bartell & Bartell, Ltd.. Calculations are influenced by such factors as number of patrol incidents, incidents per shift, type of incidents, number of hours required to work each shift and other variables. Through these calculations, the above specified number of officers has been determined to be a minimum. Along with these patrol officers, which will be split among the three (3) shifts, each shift will also need a Supervisor.
To help put more officers on the street, a study has also been done, using Bartell’s formula, to determine manpower for the dispatchers. In order to provide full coverage, the department will have five (5) dispatchers. Three of the five dispatchers will be assigned permanent shifts while the other two will work "swings", covering days off and some vacations. Occasionally an officer will be assigned to cover dispatcher’s duties, however this should be the exception, not the rule.
It has also been determined that with the increase in arrests, the necessary files and paperwork associated with arrest reports will raise proportionally. Another secretary and a records clerk are critical in the completion of the clerical work as well as the filing of the records in a timely fashion. As stated in the Letter of Transmittal, the Budgetville Police Department is in the accreditation process and there are certain standards that this department must comply with. A streamlined records system, administered by a full-time records clerk, will make complying with the mandatory standard easier than if the department had to rely on one of the secretaries. In a worse case scenario, an officer would have to be assigned part-time as a records clerk. The primary goal at the present time is to get officers on the street and have civilians perform non-police duties rather than have sworn personnel perform these tasks.
102/103 Overtime/Court Time $75,000/$45,000
Along with the increase in patrol functions, comes an increase in overtime and court time. This area has faced an increase in people driving under the influence of drugs/alcohol and domestic assaults. Domestic Assaults have had a sharp raise in incidents over the past several years. Recent legislative action has been enacted ensuring victims of domestic abuse that they will have proper follow-up to any such case. This department is devising a way to cover the added investigation work needed for the proper and successful prosecution of the perpetrators of this crime. In addition, the BPD is taking a proactive stance in the interdiction of DWI to help save lives and preserve property. Even with the big push on people using designated drivers, there has been a raise of people not paying any heed to the warnings. Hence, the line item for court time. With the passage of the new contract with the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) calling for new court time pay, we are anticipating an upswing in arrests and also overtime. There is no set formula for the overtime or for the Court Pay. Both are new to this budget, coming in the new contract with the FOP. There have been many attempts to use different formulas, but in the absence of some cold hard numbers to go by, an educated guess is the best that can be done.
For the overtime, we are taking into consideration that the BPD will provide security at the local high school football games again this year. Each game calls for at least six (6) officers; one (1) Supervisor (usually a Lieutenant) and the others being a mixture of Sergeants and Patrol Officers. This alone calls for over $8,000 of the overtime listed. This is reimbursed to the City, but it goes back into the City’s General Fund.
Football Games Hourly rate
The Budgetville Police Department must also provide officers for the three parades the City allows each year. To provide the proper coverage and traffic assignments, every off-duty officer is called out. The estimated cost for the three parades this year is over $4,000.
Between the two, there will be more than a $12,000 outlay in overtime. This isn’t even taking into consideration the unexpected overtime due to shift coverage, working over shift and or program associated with Community Policing and DWI Patrol. Just the scheduled or anticipated overtime consists of almost twenty percent (20%) of the requested overtime budget.
The next large outlay in overtime is the Country Music Festival each August. Since the Festival has been moved inside the City, the drain on overtime and manpower will be extensive. Special patrols are to be assigned to the area days in advance to prevent any vandalism or theft to the equipment being set up for the performances. All officers are required to work during this time period, with the department going to twelve hour shifts, except for the secretaries. A Sergeant will be in charge of the regular patrol shift, which will be from 7 AM–7 PM and 7 PM–7 AM. In addition to the Sergeant, each patrol shift will be staffed by one (1) Dispatcher and four (4) Patrol Officers. After their normal eight (8) hour shift, these people will be going on overtime. This will start at 7 AM on the Thursday before the Festival. The Festival itself will have the remaining Officers and Dispatchers working three different shifts; one Sergeant and four officers working 7 PM-7AM, one Sergeant and five officers working 7AM-7PM, and one (1) Sergeant and eight (8) officers working 11AM-11PM. This will give adequate coverage during the peak performance hours and while the majority of the festival goers are enjoying the festivities before the performances. The cost in overtime to this department is almost $12,500, a substantial cost in overtime for just one event.
Combining these three major events accounts for almost one-third (1/3) of the overtime in the proposed overtime budget.
104 Pension/Health $86,000
In order to show a more accurate budget and cost of running a department, this is the first year in which each city department must incorporate the costs of Pension and Health benefits in their budgets. The police department will continue to pay the same rate of benefits the city has paid in the past several years. That cost is $1,000 a year each for hospitalization and for retirement. This adds eighty-six thousand dollars ($86,000) to the Budgetville Police Department, an amount that reflects almost six and one-half percent (6 ½%) of the total budget for BPD.
200 Contractual Services
201 Radio Rental
$35,000
The current communications equipment
used by the Budgetville Police Department is now 10 years old. This equipment
is outdated and for the most part inoperable. The proposed budget includes
$35,000 to lease a new system which is state of the art. Included with
the communications system are automatic upgrades to the system as they
become available and a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) program that will
interface with departmental computers without any modifications. This proposed
equipment will, therefore, serve several purposes:
300 Commodities
301 Gas, Oil, Tires $26,000
The increase in the budget for gas, oil and tires is due to the enlarged fleet. Three additional cars are also proposed (see separate justification for 402/Vehicles). With the increase in the number of vehicles comes an increase in the use of gas. This proposal is only $1,400 more, $25,000 compared to $23,600 last year. This is a rather insignificant raise considering three vehicles are being added. The three oldest vehicles in the fleet will be used only sparingly, one for the Community Relations Officer.
400 Capital Outlay
401 Vehicles $54,000
At present, Budgetville Police Department has 10 vehicles, of which four are marked and six are unmarked. Studies made by fleet operations show a minimum of 2 of these vehicles, at any given time, require maintenance and/or repair. Three of the marked vehicles have over 75,000 miles and are in need of extensive repair. The emergency equipment in these vehicles are nonexistent and not operational due to their antiquated state.
We are requesting to add three more vehicles to the fleet at a cost of $54,000, which is $18,000 per vehicle on State bid. They are full police package vehicles, meeting all specifications for this department and would be placed in service as marked patrol vehicles. This will give our officers safer, more reliable vehicles.
402 Emergency Equipment $15,000
Along with the vehicles proposed, the new vehicles need to be equipped so the officers can properly perform their police duties. The emergency equipment that each vehicle utilizes consists of:
The scanner will allow the officer to hear the State Police as well as other emergency services in the area covered by Budgetville Police Department. The Municipal Services radio will be utilized to contact the various city agencies, if needed. There are times where it is necessary to contact an officer without other people listening. The cellular phone will be for those occasions. In-car video cameras have begun to be a real asset to officers and their agencies in civil suits as well as criminal and traffic cases. There have been several instances where complaints against officers have been refuted merely by reviewing the video tape from an officer’s in-car unit. These video units have become almost as good a witness for officers as having a second person in the car. RADAR/VASCAR units will be utilized by the officer’s operating these vehicles as speed deterrents as well as traffic control on streets where speeding is a problem. All of the patrol officers have had extensive training in the operation and use of speed control devices.
