PREVIOUSLY

• Op-Ed: Voters Passed Measure Q, So Eureka’s Fire Station 4 Should Stay Open
• Op-Ed: Wanna Save Your Fire Station? How ‘Bout Less Sleep Pay?
• DOLLISON’S DOCKET: When You’re Talking About Eureka’s Budget Problems, You’re Talking About Pensions

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From the office of Eureka City Manager Greg Sparks:

The City of Eureka proposed budget continues to receive a great deal of comment from residents as well as our own employees in the Police Department and from the Humboldt Bay Fire Department — a Joint Powers Authority.

As was noticed in last month’s newsletter and in subsequent articles in the Times-Standard and elsewhere, the city was faced with a projected deficit in the proposed budget for 2015-16. To address that projected deficit, all departments were directed to reduce costs and to present revenue enhancements, such as fee increases. Chief Mills targeted the elimination of Police Service Officer (PSO) positions and retired part-time annuitants within the department to achieve a reduction of over $800,000 from the department’s $13.1 million annual budget. PSO’s are civilian, non-sworn employees who perform valued functions within the department and the community. No police officer positions are being eliminated as part of the budget balancing for this next year. Two PSO’s will be repurposed into two newly created positions as Evidence Technician and Administrative Technician.

Humboldt Bay Fire, which receives 65 percent of its funding from the City of Eureka, proposed to address a $700,000 reduction by “browning” Station 4 on Myrtle Avenue. “Browning” means that the station will be closed approximately 60-65 percent fo the time in order to reduce overtime expense. No firefighters or personnel in the department are being laid off as a result of these changes. Humboldt Bay Fire will still receive over $6.2 million in funding from Eureka citizens to support fire suppression, prevention and Advanced Life Support activities.

Measure Q, the half-cent sales tax, is a continuation of Measure O that was approved by voters in 2010, when the city was in budget crises and was prepared to eliminate police officer and firefighter positions. Measure O and Q were billed and sold as sales taxes necessary to maintain public safety services in Eureka. Some members of the public have expressed concern that those funds may have been targeted o other city priorities and not to police and fire. The graph below demonstrates exactly where city revenues have been directed since 2006. The upward trend for police and fire that rose dramatically in 2011 was the result of Measure O funding. These two departments account for over $19 million, or 71 percent, of the city’s general fund.

Clearly, the city has fulfilled its promise and commitment to voters on maintaining and expanding spending for public safety services over the past four years and for the next year as well.