Modesto moves forward on police plan during council meeting

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved Modesto’s proposed $361 million operating budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 but not before some sharp exchanges among council members, including a charge the mayor was withholding information.

The proposed budget includes Mayor Ted Brandvold’s proposal to spend roughly $2.5 million to hire an additional 22 police officers. He recommends coming up with the $2.5 million through budget cuts and the use of anticipated new revenue.

But council members Jenny Kenoyer, Bill Zoslocki and Doug Ridenour were concerned whether Brandvold’s proposal was financially self-sustaining. They also were concerned they were being asked to make a decision without an adequate vetting of the mayor’s proposal. They did not question the need for more officers.

Ridenour took it further by saying some council members were privy to information that he and other council members were not and it is difficult for council members to make important decisions without full information.

This was not the only discordant note at the meeting.

Police Chief Galen Carroll had to leave because of an officer-involved shooting in Turlock with the Stanislaus Drug Enforcement Agency, a countywide task force whose members include Modesto officers.

And community activists John Mataka and Miguel Donoso demanded the city form a committee to address the slayings of young Latinos and find long-term solutions to reduce crime and gangs and increase the city’s investment in west and south Modesto. The two were spurred to speak after 13-year-old Brisa Covarrubias was fatally shot outside her west Modesto home Memorial Day. Her 15-year-old brother was wounded in the shooting.

The two men accused the police of not doing enough to solve Covarrubias’ slaying and said they would protest at council meetings if their request was not granted.

Brandvold denied Ridenour’s claim. “All the council members were given the same information at the same time,” the mayor said. Council members Mani Grewal and Kristi Ah You agreed with the mayor.

Brandvold released his “Mayor’s Final Budget Modifications” letter outlining his proposal to hire additional officers and how to pay for it to council members about a week ago.

But Zoslocki, Ridenour and Kenoyer had questions about the details and assumptions underlying the proposal. And Tuesday was the council’s first discussion of the mayor’s proposal. Typically, major budget proposals are discussed during the city’s May budget hearings. But Brandvold, who took office in late February, still was developing his proposal during the budget hearings.

Council members still have time to review and modify Brandvold’s plan. The council is expected to continue talking about the proposed budget at its meeting next week and at its June 21 meeting, where it is expected to adopt the budget.

Brandvold’s proposal would increase police staffing from 218 to 240 officers, which would be the first significant increase in several years. He proposes to pay for it by:

▪  Eliminating several vacant positions for an annual savings of $425,000; accept a recommendation from City Attorney Adam Lindgren to cut his office’s budget by $100,000; and cut $650,000 in what the city spends on consultants, for a total savings of $1.175 million. But Kenoyer questioned why the city had changed which positions it plans to eliminate three times since Friday. She also questioned whether the city truly could cut $650,000 on consultants when it does not have a firm idea of how much it spends. City officials are working on getting a better number but said the figure is in the millions of dollars.

▪  Increasing the employee vacancy rate from 4 percent to 5 percent and using the $731,000 in savings this will generate for additional police officers. The vacancy rate reflects that city departments do not operate at 100 percent staffing because of attrition, such as employees retiring or leaving for other jobs and the lag time in replacing them. The city had not been using a vacancy rate until the current 2015-16 budget and consequently ended budget years with a few million dollars because departments were not fully staffed.

▪  Hiring a contract employee to help ensure the city is receiving what is called the “mil tax” from all of the businesses required to pay it. The mayor’s letter estimates this could bring in $150,000 annually. City officials have said hiring an employee a couple of years ago to do this has brought in $250,000 annually.

▪  Using the estimated $360,000 in annual savings from a new, less expensive letter of credit. The letter backs the 2008 refinancing of debt the city issued to build facilities, such as its share of Tenth Street Place, the city-county administration center.

Brandvold has said the city could use reserves if any of these revenue sources fall short in the expectation that his 100-day budget review committee, which started meeting in April, will come up with recommendations that produce long-term savings and revenues for Modesto.

Brandvold has said he developed his plan with the help of City Manager Jim Holgersson, city staff and the 100-day committee. “This is a solid plan that has been presented here,” Brandvold said Tuesday. Holgersson told the council the plan is achievable.

The mayor said it is critical Modesto increase its number of police officers because of growing problems with crime, a concern seconded by Ah You and Councilman Tony Madrigal.

This story was originally published June 8, 2016 at 12:17 AM with the headline "Modesto moves forward on police plan during council meeting."