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

• 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.

*

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.

*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.

*• 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.

• 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.”

• 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

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.

• 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).

*• 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.

*• 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

*• 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