FINANCE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL
CITY HALL,
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2010
BUDGET WORK SESSION
6:30 P.M.
1. CALL TO ORDER: Mr.
Wisniewski opened the Budget Work Session at 6:30 P.M., with roll call as
follows: Mr. Blair, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Barletta,
Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer and
2. SCHEDULED MATTERS:
A. Review and discussion of the Police Department Budget, Mayor’s and Mayor’s Court Budget, City Manager’s Budget and the Finance Department Budget.
Mr. Vance stated at this point in time revenues exceed expenditures by approximately $75,000. There are obviously not a lot of extras in the budget. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that a balanced budget means it does not go into the reserves. Mr. Schornack stated that the general fund revenue is $7,024,000 and the expenditures are $6.9 million. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that the revenue is slightly down.
Mr. Schornack stated he would begin with the Police Department. The last page is the unfunded list of items the department heads requested. The Police Department budget is at the same staffing levels as the current year. The number of cruisers has been reduced to one and the Chief had requested two additional on top of that. Mr. Schornack stated that with the FOP contract we are locked into a two and one-half percent wage increase for members of the FOP and members of AFSCME, our dispatchers, will receive a one percent increase for 2011. Mr. Schornack stated he would be happy to answer any questions.
Chief Taylor stated he asked for three cruisers and is getting one. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that these are for replacement and not additional cruisers. Chief Taylor stated he was asked to decrease his budget by over $100,000 and remove two cruisers. Currently there are two cruisers with 77,000 plus miles on them. Replacing one cruiser next year will still leave two cruisers that have to go another year with 77,000 plus miles on them and by the time a new cruiser is here in 2012 these two cruisers will each have over 175,000 miles on them. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that roughly 4,000 miles per month are put on each cruiser. Chief Taylor stated that the cruisers are ordered in November but they are not received until May the following year. He considers it a great liability for the officers to be driving cruisers with 150,000 miles on them.
Mr. Wisniewski clarified that at around 80,000 miles they start to fall apart suspension wise and once they reach that mileage they are not fit to use in a pursuit. Mr. Blair clarified that the cruiser with the highest mileage at this time is at 99,000. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that the Chief would like to replace that cruiser and one that has 77,000 miles. Mr. Blair clarified that the Chief would provide a breakdown on each cruiser with the mileage for future reference and that approximately 4,000 miles were put on each cruiser monthly. Mayor O’Brien clarified this is predominately city driving at 25 mph. Chief Taylor stated he keeps a cruiser for roughly three years. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that a cruiser costs approximately $20,000 and that to outfit it is another $15,000 to $17,000. Mr. Fix clarified that the Police Department has 17 vehicles. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that last year the Police Department bought three cruisers and when a cruiser reaches high mileage the costs for upkeep include a transmission at a cost of $3,000 to $4,000, suspension, shocks etc. Mrs. Hammond clarified that switching to Toyotas or Hondas is not an option as these are fleet cruisers purchased under the state contract. Mayor O’Brien clarified that there is one more cruiser coming in this year, this is under the insurance as it’s for the cruiser that burnt. Mr. Blair clarified that the trade- in usually is about $2,000. Mayor O’Brien stated if things continue as they are there is little chance there will be money in the 2012 budget for any cruisers.
Mr. Wisniewski stated that the
Chief requested two additional officers and a part time dispatcher. Mr. Blair clarified that for dispatcher
salaries the amount is approximately $500,000 including insurance and
PERS. He is interested in checking into
centralized dispatching through the Fairfield County Sheriff’s office and has
discussed this briefly with Sheriff Phalen. The Sheriff estimates his office could do our
dispatching for $200,000 and provide the same level of service. Mr. Blair further stated he would be
interested in exploring this to determine if it would be a cost saving
measure. Chief Dispatcher Carolyn Sharp
stated this was considered in the past when John Fuller was Chief. A very lengthy study was done by the East
Side Dispatch Study group consisting of the City of
part of the County with officers spread from one end of the County to the other. Another big issue would be radio contact as currently we do not have the capability for radio contact that would be completely dependable. Connectivity for the computers is something we worked on for a long time and the County does not have that capability.
Mr. Blair stated Sheriff Phalen indicated he would bring on staff that would be
dedicated to Pickerington. The Sheriff would need to know our call volume,
procedures, etc. in order to provide a firm estimate. Mr. Wisniewski stated
that he doesn’t see how someone who has no idea as to what we do, how we do it,
our call volume or anything else, could come up with that amount. Mr. Blair clarified that the Sheriff had
looked at the Service report from last night’s council meeting that covered the
period from July 1 to September 30th. Chief Taylor stated that he thinks you would
be very disappointed in the level of service the Sheriff’s office would
provide. Mayor O’Brien clarified that when Mr. Blair spoke with the Sheriff he
did not ask the Sheriff if he would be interested in contracting with us to
handle his dispatching. Ms. Sharp stated
that we would lose control and direction of our own policies and procedures. Obviously you can’t dispatch for the Sheriff
one way, for Pickerington their way,
Mr. Sauer stated he agrees with a lot of what Mr. Fix stated. He doesn’t see any harm in investigating this issue, perhaps there is something we are missing, but he is a long way from
saying he agrees at this point.
Chief Taylor stated he is confident in what the decision of
Mr. Barletta clarified that physicals of the officers is a requirement and that the City pays for these. Mrs. Hammond stated the budgeted amount for the horse patrol has gone down considerably. Mr. Vance stated that he was not familiar with the utilization of the horse and requested the amount be reduced until it could be substantiated. Mrs. Hammond clarified this is subject to change and that the horse is used for parades and crowd control for football games, festivals, etc. Mr. Vance stated he and Mr. Schornack went through the Police budget and reduced expenditures by $100,000. The Chief then asked for the flexibility to see if he could come up with other options by taking the $100,000 from some areas to restore some of what has been reduced. Mayor O’Brien clarified that the $100,000 amount was determined when the City Manager and Finance Director analyzed the revenues and expenditures and realized they needed to get to a point where they were equal. They went back to various departments and reduced the expenditures by approximately 24 percent in the largest budgets. Mr. Sauer clarified that the K9 was obtained via donations and the veterinary care is provided at a 50 percent discount. He stated he feels that an officer on a bicycle could be as affective as an officer on a horse, although the horse is bigger and more visible. He also stated he has no problem with trimming that back to $500. if you wanted to increase bicycle patrol as the bicycles would cost less to maintain than the horse. Chief Taylor stated an officer on a bicycle can get into more places than the horse can. Mr. Barletta stated the horse is a bigger presence and is better for crowd control. Mr. Fix stated we just swore the horse in two years ago and he doesn’t know that getting rid of it to save $2,000 would be a good idea. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that the majority of the committee was in favor of restoring the horse budget to the level it was at in the 2010 budget.
Mr. Barletta ascertained that for office supplies we have state pricing and on copiers we search for the best price per value and they usually come with a maintenance agreement. Mrs. Hammond stated she understood that the inside millage, the 2.3 mills, will go down as the property valuations have gone down about five percent, however the Police levy will generate the same amount of money. Mr. Wisniewski stated Commander Annetts had advised him we typically have two officers on the street at any given time. On one occasion there was a fire and an accident and for several hours we were without any patrol and had no one else to respond to calls. The Chief reviewed a report he provided that covers a three month period. The total number of calls for service in this period was 5,633. That is about 30 calls per shift on average. To break it down further, it is 10-15 calls on day shift, 50 on second shift and the balance on 3rd shift. He stated the second shift officers run from call to call. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that second shift is 4:00 p.m. to 12:00 p.m. The 90 day period totaled 270 shifts and only 1/3 of those were at full staff. The Police Department is operating on less than a skeleton crew.
The Chief stated he knows they have
heard him request more officers over and over again, he sympathizes on where
the money is coming from, however if we don’t keep ahead of the game we are
going to end up a ghetto and catching up is going to be impossible. Mr. Wisniewski stated he thinks we have all
seen what has happened around us and it has been his opinion that the one thing
between us and Columbus is our Police Department. Chief Taylor stated the
average response time used to be 3-5 minutes, now it’s more like 5-8 minutes. As we get bigger our response time will
double or triple. The response time now of 5-8 minutes is comfortable compared
to the 30-40 minute response time of the Sheriff’s office and in
Mr. Blair clarified that the
Police Department assists the Sheriff’s Department 10 to 15 times per
week. Mr. Fix clarified that the
Sheriff’s office also assists the Police Department. Mayor O’Brien stated that most of the calls
we assist the Sheriff’s office with are in subdivisions. Mayor O’Brien clarified that the Sheriff’s
office does patrol the subdivisions in
Mrs. Hammond clarified that there
are two cruisers on patrol per shift and also half of a sergeant. Chief Taylor stated it may appear that we
have more than that because they are seen frequently. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that when both
officers are tied up on a call all incoming calls, unless it’s a life or death
situation, wait for an officer to become available and they do stack up. Mr. Blair stated he thinks it is a good idea
to approach
Mayor O’Brien stated that in the Mayor’s budget there is nothing he can change in the personal services category. In the remaining three areas he has cut what he could, moved money around to be more realistic as to what it is being spent on. Mr. Fix clarified that under communication, this is for the Mayor’s cell phone service. Mr. Blair clarified that as the Mayor signs legislation, the bond insurance is there to cover the City if there are errors. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that there was nothing further on the Mayor’s budget.
The Mayor stated that on the Mayor’s Court budget there is nothing in the top category he can change. He further stated that Mrs. Schwartz did a great job with this budget. Mr. Schornack stated on this budget there is a revenue side for Mayor’s Court and the estimation is that approximately $144,000 will be brought in next year. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that the Mayor’s Court budget is $117,000 and roughly $144,000 is brought in and this department is self-sustaining. Mr. Fix clarified there is a contract in place for next year for the City Prosecutor and Magistrate and they did not ask for raises. He clarified that for the Mayor’s Court City Prosecutor position we use is Schottenstein, Zox and Dunn. For cases that are heard in Fairfield County Municipal Court, we have to pay the county prosecutor, even though our citizens are already paying a tax to the County for this.
Mr. Barletta clarified that in the past
Fairfield County Juvenile Court tried holding their court here on a monthly
basis for a few years, then determined it cost them more to do so and they
resumed holding it in
funds such as Fines, Court Costs and Computerization fund. Mayor O’Brien stated when there is an increase in fees it is because the State has increased their cost and not due to the City raising our fees and we have not raised our fee for a long time. He further stated we are in the process of implementing an online payment system via credit card. They will be able to access this through the internet or by using a kiosk set up in the lobby. This will be paid for out of the Computerization fund. Mr. Wisniewski clarified there was nothing further on the Mayor’s Court budget.
Mr. Barletta clarified that we have a shared plan for our cell phones and that only the Mayor and City Manager have data capabilities. Mr. Vance stated that during the budget process the City Engineer discussed the possibility of having a Blackberry. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that the cell phone service is through Nextel.
Mr. Wisniewski stated that the remaining departments on the agenda would be moved to another meeting date. The next Budget Work Session will be on October 13, 2010 at 6:30 P.M.
3. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, the work session closed at 7:35 P.M., October 6, 2010.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
________________________________
Karen I. Risher, Administrative Clerk
ATTEST:
________________________________
Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk