The city may add three more police officers and a half-time
records specialist during the next 12 months, thanks to a new city
budget unanimously adopted Wednesday evening by the Morgan Hill
City Council.
Morgan Hill – The city may add three more police officers and a half-time records specialist during the next 12 months, thanks to a new city budget unanimously adopted Wednesday evening by the Morgan Hill City Council.
The public-safety positions, at a cost of $365,000, are included in the city’s $141-million budget for fiscal year 2007-08.
Though the money has been allocated, the council still must vote on whether to authorize the hiring.
“Naturally, I’m very pleased the budget was approved,” said Morgan Hill Police Chief Bruce Cumming. “With the shopping center (on Cochrane Road) coming on line in July, this is a step in the right direction.”
Cumming described Morgan Hill’s crime rate as “average,” but warned violent crimes might be on the rise. He said Morgan Hill has one of the highest populations of parolees in Santa Clara County, but one of the lowest officer-to-resident ratios in the area. Currently, there are 35 sworn officers to protect 38,000 residents. He said the additional hires would “significantly” improve the city’s public-safety posture.
Earlier this year Cumming met several times with the city’s Public Safety and Community Services Committee, prompting the committee to release a report in May recommending additional police officers.
One of the new police officer positions, at a cost of $108,951, will be funded by the city’s $24.9 million general fund, and is scheduled to be hired in October as business picks up at the new Cochrane Road shopping center east of U.S. 101.
The other three cop positions include one officer assigned to the Crime Suppression Team, at a cost of $108,951; one officer who will address gang education and prevention efforts, at a cost of $108,951; and one part-time records specialist to support the Crime Suppression Team, at a cost of $38,047. The three positions will be funded by the Redevelopment Agency to combat “blighting influences,” which include crime, according to the city.
The city will also be looking to fill four additional positions at a yearly cost of about $447,000 in other departments, including a senior housing project manager, at a cost of $132,555; a senior economic development project manager, at a cost of $132,555; a utility supervisor, at a cost of $117,331; and an environmental program assistant, at a cost of $64,480. None of these positions are funded by the general fund.
Currently, there are about 200 regular year-round full and part-time city employees.
In his budget message, City Manager Ed Tewes described the budget as “status quo” except for the additional police positions. As planned in the city’s sustainable budget strategy adopted in January 2004, this year’s budget projects a general fund surplus for the first time in five years, amounting to $589,000.
“The guiding principal has been to maintain current staffing and to increase staffing only where such additions are essentials,” Tewes said in the budget message. “An already ‘lean’ organization has been challenged to deliver an ambitious work plan.”
While the city has reduced what it sees as less critical services in recent years, it also has not addressed other needs such as building a third fire station and streamlining its land-development process, for lack of funding.
The new budget, which takes effect July 1, includes money for a number of projects, including acquiring land for a new public park, completing the first phase of the outdoor sports center on Condit Road, acquiring right-of-way for Santa Teresa and Butterfield Boulevard extension projects and completing a Downtown Plan update along with a parking management plan.
