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Property
owners will face
a two-legged tax increase
If
County Council agrees to the Coons administration's public
safety initiative -- as it is highly likely it will -- the tax
increase needed to finance it will be in addition to what
appears likely to be a hefty property-tax hike to finance
continuing operations.
"We're going to
need [an increase] just to keep the lights on ... to provide the
services we render today," chief administrative officer Jeffry
Bullock told Council's public safety committee after he and
David Roberts, chief of the emergency communications unit,
unveiled the second component of the two-part initiative.
It calls for adding
16 new employees over the next five years to the unit's current
78 authorized positions and restructuring the organizational
chart to provide a "career path" so that call operators can be
promoted from what now are essentially dead-end jobs.
The unit now has a
30% employee-turnover rate, the highest in county
government's workforce. Roberts attributed that to inability to
move up to higher-paying jobs. Many of those who leave, however,
do so for other county jobs.
As Delaforum
previously reported, the main component of the five-year plan to
implement the initiative would increase authorized strength of
the police force from the present 364 officers, by 117 more
officers and 12 civilian positions before the end of fiscal year
2013. The plan would add 22 police officers and seven
civilians this fiscal year and 25 officers and two civilians in
the year which begins July 1, 2009.
The communications
unit would get an additional eight call operators, two assistant
chiefs, a training coordinator and a quality assurance
coordinator this year and two platoon leaders next year.
The initiative's pricetag
is somewhat vague. Acting
chief financial officer Edward Milowicki distributed a chart at
the committee meeting on Oct. 7 which included data which added
up to $17,285,630 over the five years, but said the line
referring to the police proposal included only the cost of the
additional personnel to be added this year. He indicated that
the communications proposal line was cumulative over the five
years it will take to implement.
Data
supplied later by Milowicki at Delaforum's request put the
cumulative cost at an estimated $37.5 million spread over the
next four years. That included pricetags of $1 million this
fiscal year and $3.6 million next year to finance additional
police. The communications component is pegged at $768,000 and
$1 million, respectively. Because paying for additional
personnel is a continuing obligation, the combined estimated
costs for both components would rise annually to $13.4 million
in fiscal 2013.
At the committee
meeting on Sept. 30 at which the police proposal was presented,
Bullock spoke of a property-tax increase of between 4% and 5% as
necessary to finance the first two years of the entire
initiative. Council would have to enact that increase by the end
of May, 2009, to take effect with bills due the following Sept.
30. The first-year cost would be paid for from budget reserves
which would be replaced after the tax increase kicks in, Bullock
said.
He told Delaforum
after the Oct. 7 meeting that he hopes to have draft legislation
to implement the initiative ready for introduction when Council
next meets in plenary session on Oct. 14. Following normal
procedure, it could be enacted as soon as two weeks after
introduction.
Police chief Rick
Gregory previously said it is hoped that implementation can
begin with the police academy class scheduled to begin training
in December.
Bullock gave no
indication of how large a tax increase the administration will
seek to finance operations next fiscal year. After successive
increases of 5% and 17% in the previous two fiscal years, County
Executive Christopher Coons did not ask for one this year.
The fiscal 2010
budget process is now underway. Coons, a Democrat who will be
re-elected to a second term without Republican opposition in
November, is scheduled to deliver his budget proposal to Council
in March.
Explaining that 52¢
of every dollar county government spends goes to finance the
Department of Public Safety at its current staffing level,
Bullock said the limit to how much can be cut from the overall
budget has been reached.
Noting that when
the local media got around to reporting about the public safety
initiative, a popular radio talk program "began sounding off
about doing more with less," Council president Paul Clark said.
He added that it is unrealistic to believe county government can
continue to provide services at the levels the public expects
and wants without a tax increase.
"We are at a level
of services where a step down [would be] intolerable. ... Either
we close the parks and libraries or we raise taxes," Clark said.
"I don't think bake sales are going to do it."
Bullock repeated
his previous challenge to Council members that they not
authorize the public safety initiative unless they are willing
to commit up front to pay for it next year and in subsequent
years.
The 12 of 13
Council members who attended the Oct. 7 meeting seemed receptive
to strengthening the county's public safety capabilities.
"We can have all
the nice parks we want. We can have all the nice libraries we
want. But if {our] constituents are not safe, they are all a
waste of money," said George Smiley, who is a co-chairman of
Council's finance committee.
Jea Street, who
represents what he describes as the Council district with the
highest crime rate and Council's most outspoken advocate for a
larger police force, said: "What is the cost if the police
officer doesn't get there in time? What [happens if] the call
operator isn't there to instruct the kid about what to do to
keep from getting burned up?"
"We've reached a critical point
where we're going to have to make some tough decisions," said
William Bell, who co-chairs the public safety committee with
Street.
The closest thing to a dissent
about the prospect of a tax increase came form William Powers,
who represents part of the area south of the Chesapeake &
Delaware Canal. He said that much of the emergency responses his
constituents receive come from Kent County rather than New
Castle County. "They wonder if they're sending their taxes in
the wrong direction," he said.
Roberts told the
meeting that the public's use of cellular telephones has
dramatically increased the number of calls that operators must
handle. He said 60 calls reporting a recent vehicle fire were
received and handled by four operators.
While he said
ability to report emergencies from anywhere without having to
seek out a conventional telephone is beneficial, multiple calls
about the same incident "exceeds current staffing capabilities"
and results in delay in answering some of the calls.
A goal of the
initiative is to have the ability to answer 90% of the calls
that come in in 10 seconds -- three rings -- or less. At
present, about three-fourths of the calls meet that standard, he
said.
Last calendar year
the call center handled 411,900 calls on the 9-1-1 emergency line
and 95,027 from the non-emergency line. The same operators
respond to both lines, giving priority to the 9-1-1 one. |