MorganHillTimes.com | City looks at emergency services

City looks at emergency services

Jan 5, 2009
By Michael Moore

City officials will continue exploring options to reduce costs on emergency services in 2009 in order to balance a projected $2.2 million deficit, but they say any financial savings on law enforcement, fire and emergency medical operations won't be worth it if it means the current level of service suffers.

For the last couple of years city hall staff have been evaluating different ways to improve these services and lower costs at the same time, according to City Manager Ed Tewes. He said the primary goal is to improve services.

"If saving money is the only goal, there are ways to save money," said Tewes. "(But) we have learned there are always tradeoffs between the levels of service provided, and savings in costs."

One option that may reduce law enforcement costs and increase service would be to combine the communications dispatch centers for Morgan Hill and Gilroy police departments. Tewes said officials from both cities have had "preliminary discussions" on the feasibility of such a merger, and they plan to carefully evaluate the possibility in the coming months.

Currently, each city operates and funds its own dispatch center as part of its emergency services. All local 911 calls are received at the dispatch site, which is located at the respective police stations, before law enforcement, fire personnel or paramedics are directed to the scene of an emergency.

Tewes said city staff have looked at the possibility of contracting with Santa Clara County for dispatch services, but "the potential savings would be minimal, and the potential reductions in service would be considerable."

Since then, the city has connected with Gilroy officials to consider sharing dispatch staff between the two cities, Tewes said.

"Intuitively, it seems possible to share dispatch staff," said Tewes. "If we had one common team of dispatchers that could be assigned where they were needed, that might improve service and save money."

Tewes was unsure exactly how much money the idea could save, a key question the two cities will attempt to answer in the process of preparing next year's budget.

Morgan Hill police Chief Bruce Cumming said this idea has been "floating around" for a couple of years, and he is open to the idea of combining 911 dispatch services with Gilroy. But he said it needs to be studied in more depth, as it will be in upcoming months.

"If the cities were to embark on this, it would have to be studied very carefully, because this is a very important function in the public arena," Cumming said.

He noted that the workload of MHPD's dispatch center is "substantial," as the staff there answer more than 120,000 calls annually, and Gilroy dispatch likely answers more than that. Plus, he said Morgan Hill dispatchers are responsible for other duties, such as entering case information on computer systems, that would have to still be fulfilled in any combination of services between the two cities.

Cumming added that the two departments have already worked together to achieve cost savings by combining their SWAT teams and hostage negotiation teams.

Sgt. Jim Gillio of the Gilroy Police Department said the combination of dispatch services is one of many ideas being "brainstormed" by the two cities. "There may be other services they could combine as well," Gillio said.

Other options the city has considered to close the upcoming budget gap include laying off 13 city employees, turning off street lights, abandoning the upkeep of city properties such as parks, reducing community recreation services, and easing up on code enforcement. Declining tax revenues and rising costs have contributed to the budget shortfall, a situation that is similar to that currently experienced by other California cities, Santa Clara County, and the state itself.

Cumming has suggested eliminating three positions in the police department over the next three years to make up for some of the deficit. The police department's budget for 2008-2009 is approximately $10.3 million.

Michael Moore
Michael Moore covers county and law enforcement issues for the Morgan Hill Times. Reach him at (408) 779-4106, ext. 202, or mmoore@morganhilltimes.com.