Cuts even deeper for police

When he unveiled his agency's tentative budget in February, Sheriff Doug Gillespie painted a dire fiscal picture that required millions of dollars in cuts, including elimination of 30 police officer positions.

Two months later, the budget picture is even worse.

Because of another drop in property tax revenues, the final Metropolitan Police Department budget presented Monday will cut 69 police and 139 civilian positions to help shave about $37 million from last year's budget. The positions to be cut are currently vacant.

"We wanted to be part of the solution to the problem, and I believe we have done just that," Gillespie told the Metropolitan Police Department Committee on Fiscal Affairs, which includes two Clark County commissioners and two Las Vegas City Council members.

The five-member committee unanimously approved the $512.6 million budget, down 6.7 percent from last year's $549 million budget. It's also lower than the $523 million tentative budget from February because of a $10.3 million drop in property tax revenues after homeowners won appeals of their tax assessments.

The eliminated positions will likely come from specialized units such as detectives, not from the "backbone" of patrol, Gillespie said.

Besides eliminating positions, budget cuts include reducing overtime by 17 percent, cutting helicopter flight time by four hours a day, extending replacement schedules for certain police vehicles and shortening the hours police substations are open to the public.

The budget also includes $5 million in expected savings from the department's three employee unions giving up raises in salaries or benefits for the fiscal year.

The unions representing rank-and-file officers and civilian employees will vote on a tentative contract next month. The police supervisors union has yet to reach a tentative agreement.

"Our folks, I think they understand. They see what's going on around us," said Terri Yada, president of the civilian employees union.

Chris Collins, executive director of the rank-and-file officers union, said his members also understand the economic times facing the community because they're living in them too.

"It's kind of a dual-edged sword. Their economic situation isn't getting better, either," he said of the 2,900 officers he represents.

The fiscal affairs committee also passed the $61.2 million More Cops sales tax budget. That fund could pay for 600 officers, but department leaders eliminated 22 positions to avoid any issues of supplanting the general fund, which is prohibited under that 2005 state law that allowed the quarter-cent sales tax bump.

In crafting the final budget, Gillespie had to account for a $36.6 million drop in property tax revenues from the previous year and requests by the city and county to trim the amounts they pay to fund the Police Department. The agency will use budget reserves to help cover the revenue drop and cut the city contribution by 5 percent and the county contribution by 5.4 percent.

Gillespie said he has been discussing the budget for months with his employees and representatives of the city and county, which together fund about 70 percent of the Police Department budget.

"We at Metro can't craft a budget in this economy in a fishbowl," he said. "It has to be a collective and collaborative approach."

City Councilman Steve Wolfson, who sits on the fiscal affairs committee, praised the sheriff's regular communication on the budget and the department's continuing crime-fighting success.

Overall crime fell 12 percent in 2009, including a 24 percent drop in auto theft and a 12 percent drop in robberies. Traffic fatalities plunged 41 percent.

"Even with the budget reductions, crime is still coming down," Wolfson said.

Even as Wolfson and others praised Gillespie, however, they warned of even tougher times a year from now.

"It's not a question of if revenues will be down. They will be down, and we all know it," Wolfson said.

Gillespie acknowledged the uncertainty of revenue projections and will maintain a cost-cutting mentality throughout his agency as Southern Nevada's economy continues to founder, he said.

"You always hope for the best and plan for the worst," Gillespie said. "That's how it's been lately."

Contact reporter Brian Haynes at bhaynes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0281.