by SEAN KIMMONS
Kyle Police Chief Michael Blake addressed the city council last week requesting an additional $124,000 in a proposed budget amendment. (Photo by Sean Kimmons)
After Kyle councilmembers slashed the police department overtime budget proposal by more than half last year, they may soon be restoring some of those funds.
The Kyle Police Department originally requested $136,000 for overtime pay but only landed about $48,000 in the 2009-10 Fiscal Year budget.
At a recent city council meeting, Kyle Police Chief Michael Blake asked for an additional $47,000 for overtime, plus $42,000 to fully implement his department’s Coban audio/visual system and $35,000 to conduct a facility-needs assessment for a new police station.
The total budget amendment comes out to around $124,000, approximately a one-cent increase on the tax rate, currently at 42 cents per $100 property evaluated, city officials said.
“We’re faced in a situation where the existing service demand in this department is not consistent with the funding levels this year,” Kyle City Manager Tom Mattis told the council. “The council was very focused last year at keeping the tax rate low and something had to give.”
Spurred by a low crime rate, councilmembers were hesitant to unload requested funds to the police.
In a 2008 Texas Department of Public Safety report, Kyle is 60 percent below San Marcos’ crime rate and is 68 percent under the state-wide average.
“We are blessed with a very low crime rate,” Blake admitted. “We haven’t been a target-rich environment.”
However, as city development and population continue to grow, he said he expects crime to follow.
Blake also stressed that his department, matched against other comparable cities, is still understaffed by at least 37 percent. Each shift is required to have three patrol officers and a supervisor, he said, but most times only three officers can be on duty.
A short-staffed police force has slowed the department’s response time to an average of 6.75 minutes. The goal is five minutes or less, Blake said.
Each year, roughly 350 emergency calls are put on hold, delaying response times as officers react to other incidents, or the calls don’t even get a response, according to police records.
“I’m trying to stop the bleeding on our patrols,” Blake said.
Ongoing development hasn’t made things easier for the stretched police force.
“We have a different city from years ago,” said Mattis, adding that the department is unable to properly serve the new Seton Hospital that is treating more patients than initially estimated.
“We are beginning to experience a struggle with Seton Hospital,” he said. “It recently treated its 10,000th patient in just five months.”
The requested $42,000 for the department’s “state-of-the-art” mobile Coban A/V system would allow dashboard police videos to be uploaded onto desktop computers using a server instead of wasting time burning extra copies, Blake said.
A $35,000 facility-needs assessment would provide outside help to manage the construction of a projected $5 million police station.
“If we’re going to do anything, we should be doing it right,” Blake said.
City officials are expected to return with more information at the next council meeting on April 6 before the budget amendment is voted on.
Projected Kyle Police Department budget amendment:
Overtime pay: $46,803
Mobile Coban audio/visual system upgrades: $41,976
Facility-needs assessment for new police station: $35,000
Total budget amendment: $123,779
