new the city of saginaw and the saginaw county...
TRANSCRIPT
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THE CITY OF SAGINAW AND THE
SAGINAW COUNTY SHERIFF’S PROPOSAL
TO TRANSITION POLICE SERVICES.
Darnell Earley, ICMA-CM, MPA – City Manager
Phillip A. Ludos, Assistant City Manager-PS
Sheriff William Federspiel, Saginaw County
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• The driving force behind these discussions has been one of the City’s future financial situation,
and the sustainability of public safety
operations under the current delivery system.
• The financial issue is: • There is a projected shortfall for the FY
2013-14 Budget of $3.2M
• This has been the result of: 1. The loss of $2M of Statutory funds in the
change from “State Revenue Sharing” to
EVIP.
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2. $1.2M, The result of increased
pension and retiree health costs.
3. Declining property values bringing
less revenue for the public safety
mileage.
4. Loss of 10,000 population in the
2010 census, which impacts
Constitutional revenue sharing.
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*GOAL • The City seeks to reform the delivery
of public safety services, in an effort to
enhance and sustain operations, and
provide the maximum number of police
and fire personnel within the budget
constraints.
• To sustain these operations 5 years and beyond while maintaining a
balanced budget.
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*• The City has been re-evaluating
and refining public safety
aggressively since 2007.
• Positions vacated through retirements and resignations of
employment have been evaluated
before being filled, city-wide, with
the implementation of a
conditional hiring freeze.
• The Manager appointed an advisory committee to address
public safety funding, planning, and
sustainability concerns.
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• The Committee on Public Safety, Funding/Planning/Sustainability issued its
“Final Report” to the City Manager on
December 3, 2012, it read in part:
• “The final conclusion to be presented by the Committee is that the City should provide the highest number of officers that can be sustained. While the108 police officers in the Sheriff’s proposal are desirable, if that number cannot be sustained, it makes no sense to deploy 108 only to reduce that number the following year. The number of 80 full-time and 4 part-time officers appears to be a sustainable number. The Committee feels strongly that the citizens of Saginaw deserve the highest number of police and fire fighters that can be sustained. To do anything less would be a disservice to this community.”
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• In addition to transitioning services via a contract the Committee examined:
1. Public Safety Officers (cross
trained)
2. Part-time personnel for both police
and fire. (IAFF has agreed to PT in
their current CBA)
3. Fire Districts
4. Reamortization of the pension
system, as a short term measure
5. Enhanced tax enforcement
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6. Addressing Health care costs for
retirees.
7. Revenue enhancement options
available to the City.
• The Committee concluded that given the immediate need that faced the
City, the solution needed to be one
which could impact the budget issue
immediately and that time was of the
essence.
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• Talks with the Sheriff have been on-going at the direction of the City
Council (July 2012) and the Committee.
• The original proposal of 108 sworn deputies could not be sustained, so a
counter proposal was created by the
City and presented to the Sheriff and
the Committee.
• The Sheriff reviewed the revised proposal (80 and 4).
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*• The City is faced with balancing the
2013-14 budget which must be
addressed, either through the
proposed contracting option or other
means; which would be:
• The reduction of personnel in public safety, as these costs account for
66 2/3% of the General Fund Budget.
• Those reductions are estimated to reduce staffing to:
•55 for Police, and •35 for Fire
• These cuts would be accompanied by operational changes to
accommodate the reductions.
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*• Possible changes:
1. Closing of one or two fire
stations
2. Changes to the Community
Police Officer’s (CPO)program
3. A reassessment of call
priorities
4. The ability to participate in
mutual aid calls
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*• To date the City has managed the decline in
revenues through proactive approaches.
• The Committee and the Management Staff have reviewed all of the options. The Public
Safety Officer Model, does not solve the long
term structural budget deficit.
• We consider this to be one more proactive approach, that will benefit the citizens in the
City of Saginaw and Saginaw County.
• The City received a $156,000 EVIP grant award from the State as an endorsement of
collaborative public safety efforts.
• We are hopeful that the City Council will move this proposal forward to the whole
Board of County Commissioners for
consideration.
Thank You