With fear of a depleting Jefferson City Police Department fleet potentially affecting the community, the city's Budget Committee proposed funding several replacement police vehicles Monday evening.
After city departments presented their budgets over the last couple of weeks, a blank spreadsheet greeted the Budget Committee on Monday, with the committee ready to make potential changes to the mayor-approved fiscal year 2019 budget. The FY2019 begins Nov. 1.
Instead of funding a $25,000 replacement inspection vehicle and a $97,000 snow plow, the committee approved funding three replacement police vehicles. The three police vehicles would cost $92,100 total.
The mayor-approved budget funded two of the police department's 14 requested vehicle replacements.
"The police vehicles that could potentially be replaced through the funding that was going to go to these other two vehicles have a substantial number of miles, they are used every day and support our police department," said Ward 5 Councilman Jon Hensley, who proposed the funding swap. "I think (police officers) need to have reliable vehicles so they can serve our community."
The 2005 inspection vehicle had 89,000 miles on it and was one of the highest mileage vehicles from the Jefferson City Planning and Protective Services Department, according to the pink sheet. Pink sheets are funding requests submitted by city departments.
The snow plow that Hensley suggested not be funded will be 16 years old and has corrosion, according to the pink sheet. It adds the estimated life cycle of a snow plow is 12 years.
"They seemed to be vehicles that (had) either low miles or didn't have any critical or upcoming failures noted in the budget book," Hensley said. "I understand why the department directors suggested those for replacement but in this particular case, replacing these specific police vehicles with that money is the use I would prefer."
The committee also approved Ward 4 Councilman Carlos Graham's proposal directing city staff to draft an ordinance to fund four more police vehicles for the current fiscal year, using some money from a settlement with prepaid wireless provider TracFone Wireless, Inc. to help fund the vehicle purchases. The city anticipates receiving about $122,800 in revenue from a settlement, Jefferson City Finance Director Margie Mueller said.
"This is something that will be returned back to us this fiscal year and I hope we're all trying to find ways to get (the) police (department) some cars in any possible way we can do this," Graham said.
The ordinance would be presented to the Jefferson City Council later this year.
Twenty-three of the police department's vehicles have more than 90,000 miles each on them, according to a department memorandum. Fourteen of the department's vehicles are estimated to have more than 115,000 miles on them after an additional year of service.
Along with potentially funding replacement police vehicles, the committee approved Ward 3 Councilman Ken Hussey's request to increase funds for the Jefferson City Commission on Human Relation from $500 to $5,000 for FY2019. The commission originally requested $5,000 but Jefferson City Mayor Carrie Tergin partially funded the request since other city commissions requested funds.
Ward 2 Councilwoman Laura Ward also proposed placing $3,000 in the city's FY2019 budget for the Jefferson City Cultural Arts Commission, which the committee approved. With the commission falling under the Jefferson City Parks, Recreation and Forestry department's umbrella, Parks director Todd Spalding was "favorable" to matching the city's $3,000, Ward and Tergin said - giving the commission a total of $6,000.
While not a motion, Hussey posed the idea of using the $20,000 set aside in the mayor-approved budget for Missouri State Penitentiary projects to help offset the funds for the commissions.
In past years, the city and Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau have partnered on various projects, including a $58,860 historic light project this year. The CVB will invoice the city for the $20,000 later this year to help offset the cost of the project, Tergin said.
There is not a specific MSP project outlined for FY2019, Tergin said.
Instead of allocating funds every year for MSP projects, Hussey suggested, the CVB could present the City Council with projects and council members could decide whether to partner on the cost of each project.
"I'm not trying to discount the need to partner and the importance of this site or the (prison) tours," Hussey said. "I'm expressing that I get some push back when people asked, 'Why are you spending dollars on somebody's else's property?'
"And while it's a large budget and (the MSP amount is) not much, there's a lot of things that we could say are not much but deserve attention and need I think it's worthy of conversation because while it's not much money, it's a high-profile expenditure that a lot of people have strong feelings about on whether city tax dollars should go in any way, shape or form towards the structure itself."
Tergin and other council members argued they thought the city should keep some funds set aside for MSP projects.
"It's high profile and I think that's the reason it's in the budget. It certainly is high profile and high priority," Tergin said. "We're taking the partnership approach of, yes, that is state property and the CVB runs the successful (prison) tours, but it is in our city and it is a very large piece of economic development and growth."
Once the Budget Committee approves a city budget, that budget will be presented to the Jefferson City Council to be voted on.
The overall proposed mayor-approved budget for FY2019 is $65,681,530, with more than $32.8 million in the projected general fund revenue budget. The total budget expenses are projected at $32.8 million.
The committee will continue its discussions at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at City Hall, 320 E. McCarty St.