By Kathy Adams
The Virginian-Pilot
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — When city officials look to cut spending, public safety is usually one of the last places they turn.
But with the city facing an unprecedented $111.5 million shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year, the Police and Fire Departments and Emergency Medical Services likely will take some hits. Nearly two dozen police officers, a fire safety educator and money to replace outdated lifesaving equipment are on the chopping block.
Although the cuts will hurt, officials from the public safety sector say the recommendations put forth by City Manager Jim Spore are far less painful than the 5 percent cuts discussed earlier this year. Under that plan, the city would have lost as many as 47 police officers and 30 firefighters, according to the budget summary.
The Police Department could lose $2.2 million, the Fire Department $391,093 and EMS $133,663. That translates to 2.5 percent, 0.9 percent and 1.8 percent of their city funding, respectively.
Catheryn Whitesell, the budget director, said city officials strove to trim without sacrificing the public safety departments’ core programs, such as patrolling the streets, fighting fires and responding to medical emergencies.
“We tried to focus on the margins of the programs, not that they’re not important, but they’re not central to their duties,” she said.
Public safety officials were scheduled to discuss how the proposal would affect their operations during a council workshop Thursday, but it was postponed until Tuesday.
After the workshop, Councilman Jim Wood, a former police officer, said he doesn’t support reducing the number of sworn police officers.
“I think it’s very important because our crime statistics are very low and we are one of the safest cities of our size in the country,” he said. “A big part of that is because we have a very active Police Department.”
Taking police off the street will change the focus from preventing crime to reacting to it, Wood said.
The Police and Fire Departments would also lose a total of 27 positions under the budget proposal. The city’s goal is to eliminate those jobs by transferring employees and not filling open spots rather than through layoffs.
EMS will gain several positions because it’s taking over lifeguard duties at Sandbridge.
In an e-mail to the department’s employees , police Chief Jake Jacocks supported Spore’s proposal for a 3-cent increase in the real estate tax rate. He encouraged his staff to educate the community about its importance to maintaining police jobs.
Residents “need to know that with the proposed real estate tax increase, we will still be losing 23 sworn positions and one civilian position,” Jacocks wrote. “If the proposed tax increases are not adopted, the cuts across the organization would be Draconian.”
Jacocks declined to comment on the budget Thursday until he or one of his deputies addresses the council.
If the current budget passes, crime prevention and crowd-control capabilities will be hardest hit, according to a presentation prepared for the council workshop.
Police, fire and EMS still fared better than some departments. The Management Services Department is expected to lose the most: 64 percent of its budget and a quarter of its staff. The city auditor’s office is expected to lose the least: less than 0.2 percent of its budget and none of its staff.
For the Police and Fire Departments and EMS, the city budget proposes:
* Cutting the number of officers on the police Mounted Patrol in half, from 14 to 7.
* Removing two officers from the department’s Traffic Safety Unit, which is projected to reduce the annual number of drunken-driving arrests by 150.
* Eliminating six detectives who focus on prostitution, drug sales and property crimes.
* Cutting the Crime Prevention Unit from eight to six officers and losing one of three public information officers.
* Removing one life safety education specialist from the Fire Department, which will reduce its education programs by 20 percent.
* Denying $200,000 to replace EMS defibrillators that are more than 10 years old and can no longer be sent to the manufacturer for maintenance.
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