20% Increase in Water and Sewer Could Save Police Dispatch

Following more than a half hour of listening to concerns over the possible cuts in the next fiscal year, mostly concerns about outsourcing the police dispatch, City Council Members shared their opinions about balancing the budget and where the communications center fits in that task.

“I don’t want to get rid of it either, I just don’t see how else we can do it. We’ve got to balance the budget, we’ve got to save the city. My goal is to save the city first,” Vice Mayor David Hastings said.

According to the current proposal, submitted by City Manager Jim O'Reilly, the city would have to use $622,359 of it's general reserve fund to help balance the budget. But, at a previous workshop, council members agreed to look into the cost savings if the police dispatch center were outsourced. This would be an effort to preserve the monies in the reserve fund, at least for the next fiscal year.

“If we don’t make these tough decisions today, I’m really concerned where we will be next year. . . I’m really not for dipping into our reserves,” Council member Barbara Banno said.

"Our police department is very important to me, our dispatch has always gotten high marks as well. [But] It’s an expensive operation for the number of dispatch calls," Council member Jennifer Salmon said.

“I have a hard time with the idea of asking for a loan, when I have money in the savings account,” Council member Sam Henderson said. Henderson added that he believes this is the time to dip into the reserves in order to save the dispatch center and services and employees at risk of losing their jobs with the city's parks department.

“We’re not to the point that we do this yet,” Henderson said.

Mayor Mike Yakes brought up the idea of an increase of 12% for water and sewer and possibly dipping into the reserves for about $250,000 instead of the $622,359.

"There are people that will pay for public safety, they will pay for the quality and services that they have," Yakes said.

During the discussion Hastings added that if the city raised water and sewer by 20%, that would offset the cost of the dispatch center.

Following that suggestion, there was no clear agreement with that proposal. Other members addressed the posibility; Henderson asked if there could be a tiered payment system based on water usage and Banno reitterated that her main concern is dipping into the reserves, saying that if the people are willing to pay, maybe it is an option.

In the end, City Manager Jim O'Reilly decided to move forward and work on the numbers and information for increasing the millage rate to 4.0, increasing water and sewer by 10% and outsourcing the police dispatch.