Posted: 7:33 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015

Middletown to spend more on public safety in 2016

By Ed Richter

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — 

Putting more police officers on the streets, exploring alternative ways for fire department staffing as firefighters retire and looking for ways to consolidate services to operate more efficiently are among the highlights of Middletown’s proposed public safety spending in 2016.

Middletown City Manager Doug Adkins presented the 2016 public safety budget Tuesday. The 2016 public safety budget will see a modest 1.1 percent increase over the 2015 public safety budget. This year’s budget will be $20.2 million which is up from just more than $20 million or $229,959 this year.

Broken down by area, the police budget will be 1.7 percent more in 2016, or $11.52 million, up from the $11.33 million for 2015; the fire budget will have a slight increase of 0.5 percent to $8.58 million in 2016, which will be up $338,786 from the $8.54 million in 2015; and the public safety administration budget will be up 0.3 percent to $154,781 in 2016 or about $479 over the $154,302 budgeted for 2015.

Overall, the city’s general fund budget with all departments including public safety will be $27.3 million in 2016, which will be down 9.6 percent from the nearly $30.2 million budgeted for 2015, a difference of nearly $2.9 million in reduced spending.

Non-public safety spending, which was presented to council two weeks ago, increased by 8.5 percent to $8.43 million for 2016 up from $7.76 million in 2015.

Adkins said the reason for the reduction in overall spending was due to the de-appropriation of nearly $1 million from the 2015 General Fund budget and returned due to retirements, resignations as well as other savings, transfers and loans to 2016. A resolution to de-appropriate the 2015 budget items was approved Tuesday.

“We’re in an OK place,” Adkins said of the city’s overall budget. “Tax revenues are the best they have been in about 10 years. We’re about to where we were before the recession hit.”

He said the city expects to end 2015 with an estimated balance of just more than $4.83 million.

In addition, the city is also projecting additional revenue 2016 as several major construction projects are expected to start, which will increase payroll and other taxes. However, the city is not including that in its operational funds because they are one-time additional funds that could reach as much as $2 million over the next several years. City officials are planning to use those one-time funds for a list of deferred maintenance projects and other investments that will be prioritized.

Major highlights of the public safety budget include:

·                       Adding three dispatchers that would enable two sworn police officers to return back to patrol in 2016.

·                       Adding a correctional officer in the city jail to reduce overtime.

·                       Eliminating a police lieutenant’s position.

·                       Transferring a patrol officer to the detective section.

·                       Researching the feasibility of body cameras.

·                       Continue the First Emergency First operational profile.

·                       Work toward having at least 15 firefighters on duty per day.

·                       Reduce fire overtime costs by 50 percent from more than $318,000 to $159,000.

·                       Explore the use of part-time and/or 40-hours fire/EMS personnel.

Adkins said the city will use an alternative staffing model to replace those leaving, while maintaining a minimum of 14 full-time career personnel on duty each day. He told council as many as 26 firefighters will be eligible to retire over the next three years.

Other 2016 goals and objectives for the police and fire divisions include:

·                       Implementing an automatic aid agreement with Monroe as well as exploring combining Monroe fire dispatch with Middletown police and fire dispatch.

·                       Working with Atrium Medical Center and neighboring communities to develop a community paramedicine program. Adkins cited Monroe’s recent efforts to launch this program.

·                       Pursuing a new records management system for police.

·                       Reducing police and fire/EMS calls for service as well as continuing to reduce Part 1 crime.

·                       Installing a kiosk in the police lobby to pay tickets, etc.

·                       Continuing to work with other city departments to to address issues in targeted neighborhoods; utilizing the new chronic nuisance ordinance to address issues with rental properties as well as continuing the task force efforts to address crime hot-spots.