By Tony Plohetski
The Austin American-Statesman
AUSTIN, Texas — Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo would cancel a police academy class that’s already been postponed once and Fire Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr would put fewer trucks in some stations to save money during the city’s ongoing budget crunch.
The list of proposed Police Department cuts, obtained Monday by the American-Statesman, also includes eliminating several positions such as operators who answer nonemergency phone calls and jobs in the department’s community liaison office, which works to foster relationships between officers and residents. It was not clear how many positions would be affected.
The cuts reach nearly $9 million, about 3.5 percent of the Police Department’s $233 million budget.
Acevedo submitted the list to City Manager Marc Ott last month after a request from Ott that each city department find ways to cut about 2 to 3 percent of its 2009 budget for next year.
This year’s city budget is $621 million.
Austin officials have declined to release lists from any city department but said they would make the information public next week.
They will hold public hearings beginning June 10 to seek community input on what should be cut.
Acevedo declined to comment Monday and referred calls to city officials.
Kerr has recommended eliminating more than a dozen positions in the Fire Department, as well as getting rid of the special pay firefighters receive for bilingual skills and for having college degrees, according to a memo to her staff.
The cuts total $4.4 million, or 3.6 percent of the department’s $121 million budget. There are about 1,100 firefighters in the department.
To cut $1.2 million alone, Kerr has suggested reducing the number of fire engines at a few stations throughout the city.
“We worked very hard to put together proposals that would not result in reduction of staffing on units, layoffs or base pay cuts,” Kerr wrote.
The lists of cuts have renewed a debate about the extent to which the city’s public safety agencies should shoulder budget woes as officials slash about $30 million from next year’s budget amid lagging sales tax revenue.
Possible budget cuts for Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services were not available Monday.
Council Member Lee Leffingwell, the mayor-elect, said he has not reviewed any suggested cuts from public safety agencies. He said that in making any cuts, he would work to maintain “street-level” services.
“If there are efficiencies that can be gained by making certain adjustments, I would be open to listening to that,” said Leffingwell, who campaigned for mayor by saying he would not support budget cuts that hurt core public safety services.
Council Member Sheryl Cole said, “It will be a very difficult budget year. I support shared sacrifices. The question will be: What impact does any proposed cut directly have on public safety?”
Council Member Randi Shade said she would not comment on the proposed cuts because she had not yet seen them.
This year, the city slashed $20 million from the current budget by freezing about 350 vacant jobs citywide and scaling back services in most departments.
As part of those cuts, fire officials used transfers and reassignments to save money, including plucking firefighters from the recruiting division and returning them to the street.
Austin police officials delayed until September a cadet class that was scheduled to begin in March, among other cuts.
Cpl. Mike Bowen , vice president of the Austin Police Association, said he is particularly concerned about the possible cancellation of that class next year.
The class would have resulted in the hiring of about 110 officers. The department now has about 1,600 officers.
Bowen said that the department loses about four officers each month through retirements and resignations and that about 206 officers will become eligible to retire in October. The department had 25 vacancies Monday.
It was unclear whether officials would rely on overtime to cover shifts created by vacancies or how much it would cost to do so.
“Public safety is as lean as we can be right now without jeopardizing safety and service,” Bowen said.
Proposed cuts include:
Fire Department
- Replace engine at multi-engine station with a medical response unit: $669,338
- Reduce number of lieutenant fire investigators: $460,530
- Eliminate special pay for college degrees: $398,453
- Cut special pay for bilingual skills: $261,000
Police Department
- Police academy: $5.5 million
- Reduce overtime based on cuts found this year: $1.2 million
- Cut temporary positions: $780,000
- Cut jobs in office of community liaison: $330,000
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