Modesto forced to freeze open police positions. How big an impact can we expect?
The City Council on Tuesday is expected to approve Modesto’s nearly $478 million operating budget, a spending plan that reflects the city’s revenues are growing despite the pandemic but not as fast as the city’s costs.
The budget is for Modesto’s 2021-22 fiscal year, which starts July 1, and includes the $153.2 million general fund. The fund is critical because 78 percent of it — $118.8 million — pays for the police and fire departments. The fund’s main revenue sources are sales, property, business and other taxes.
A city report states the operating budget “shows signs of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, but some caution is warranted as the fiscal year begins.” The report notes general fund revenues have started to and are expected to continue to grow, but city “expenditures also continue to rise, outpacing the increase of the revenues.”
Modesto is balancing its general fund in part by eliminating and freezing 20 unfilled positions. That includes freezing two open firefighter positions, two open police officer positions, one open sergeant position as well as three open police community service officers and four police cadet positions, according to the city report.
Interim Police Chief Brandon Gillespie said that because these positions are vacant the public will not see any reduction in service. He said while he would like to fill the positions, “we have a city budget that needs to be balanced. There are not a lot of options when we are so much of the budget.”
At $72.4 million, the proposed Police Department budget makes up 47.3% of general fund spending.
Positions that have been frozen can be filled later if the funding becomes available. The department is allocated 298 employees, with about two thirds of them sworn officers and about one third of them civilian employees.
The Police Department has looked to technology and other strategies to get the most out of it officers and other employees. That includes its real time crime center — which has access to more than 300 cameras throughout the city — as well as using a grant to hire four homeless outreach workers to respond to calls that officers ordinarily would handle.
Modesto also is using about $4 million from the nearly $45.9 million in pandemic relief funding it is receiving from the federal American Rescue Plan to pay for public safety labor costs to help balance its general fund.
City has $45.9M in pandemic aid
Modesto has received half of the $45.9 million and expects to receive the remaining half in a year. The city is using the first half to address some of its own needs, including deferred maintenance in city parks, as well as helping the community.
That community help includes $500,000 each to the Modesto Children’s Museum, the Graffiti USA Classic Car Museum and the Awesome Spot, a proposed inclusive playground at Beyer Community Park. The city also is spending some of its American Rescue Plan funding on downtown beautification, expanding public Wi-Fi, and helping small businesses.
City Manager Joe Lopez has said that even before the pandemic Modesto faced challenges each year in balancing its general fund. A consultant’s study from last year concluded the city has more general fund employees than it can afford as the cost of these employees, including their salaries and benefits, grows faster than the city’s revenues.
For instance, the proposed 2021-22 budget states salaries and benefits will increase from $198.9 million in the current budget year that ends June 30 to $217.1 million in the budget year that starts July 1. Modesto, like many other California cities, faces rising pension costs.
Modesto is slowly reducing the number of its general fund employees through attrition, such as deciding whether a position needs to be filled when a worker retires or leaves the city. The city has just under 1,200 employees.
The council meeting will be held over Zoom and in person. But the city is continuing to maintain pandemic restrictions, including the wearing of face masks and physical distancing, so seating is limited. More information is available at www.modestogov.com/749/City-Council-Agendas-Minutes and then by clicking on the link for the meeting agenda.
The council meets at 5:30 p.m. in the basement chambers of Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St.
This story was originally published June 22, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
