The City of South Bend may need to address public safety with 40 fewer police officers and 53 fewer firefighters by 2010, according to a spending plan for the next two years presented today to the South Bend Common Council.

By 2010, the Police Department will cut $4,203,191, while the Fire Department will cut $4,235,414 – figures that represent 15 percent and 18 percent of their respective budgets.

Behind the numbers, the cuts will mean:

• The end, by January 2009, of school crossing guards provided to public and private schools with the elimination of 37 positions.
• A shortage of paramedics that may threaten the Fire Department's EMS program.
• The possible closure of one or more fire stations. 
   

As a result of a tax shift proposed by Gov. Mitch Daniels and adopted by the Legislature as House Enrolled Act 1001, property tax revenue coming to the City – the primary support for basic city services – will be reduced by 27 percent by 2010. The $21.3 million loss of revenue means that overall the City is facing the loss of more than 200 employees the closure of park facilities and the end to popular social programs.

"Public safety is the City's top priority. It accounts for more than 75 percent of our general fund spending. We kept cuts to these critical services to far less than the 27 percent reduction citywide. Still, this plan means that there will be fewer of our brave officers and firefighters, and they will have even fewer resources to respond to emergencies," said Mayor Stephen J. Luecke in remarks to open the final of five budget presentations to the council. "Now that we've outlined the reality of the fiscal situation imposed on us by the governor's property tax caps, we need to ask ourselves whether we will accept the prospects of such a bleak future for us in South Bend."

The Police Department reductions of 99 personnel overall include:

• 40 police officers, representing 15 percent of the department's 261 sworn officers. Seven officer positions would be cut in 2009 (two by attrition) and 33 in 2010.
• 22 civilian positions, all but two occurring in 2009. This represents 48 percent of the department's 46 civilians.
• 37 crossing guard cuts, all in 2009. 
   

The Police Department's 2008 budget of $28.9 million represents 43 percent of the city's $67.3 million general fund budget. Beginning in 2009, the police department's biggest revenue increase will come from a projected $65,000 the department will receive from officers who will participate in a gas reimbursement program for take-home patrol cars. 

The Fire Department reductions of 57 personnel overall include:

• 53 sworn firefighters – 21 percent of the department's 248 sworn firefighters. In 2009, 16 firefighter positions would be eliminated with 37 positions cut in 2010.
• 4 of the department's seven civilian positions (all taking place in 2009).  

The EMT program would be jeopardized because positions cut would include 12 of the department's 39 paramedics and 23 of the 37 firefighters with Advanced EMT Intermediate training.

The Fire Department's 2008 budget of $22.9 million represents 34 percent of the city's $67.3 million general fund budget. 

For both departments in 2009, fuel costs represent significant expense increases. The Police Department's gasoline costs will increase 35 percent by more than $290,000, while the Fire Department's costs will increase 57 percent by $100,000.

What if the 2010 targets became reality?

"Continuing to make the community safe would be our No. 1 priority," said Police Chief Darryl Boykins. "If I had to go by 2010 and the worst-case scenario, … I'd look at putting more officers back on the street and specialty units losing people to fill the void. Any new projects, we'd have to put on hold."

"The officers that we would lose [in the projections by 2010] cannot be coming off the street," he added.

"It's going to be difficult for the firefighters and for protecting the City of South Bend with what we end up with in 2010," said Fire Chief Howard Buchanon about the 2010 cuts. "I'm hoping something may give that we will not lose that amount of firefighters." 

Closing a fire station or more would lengthen response times and present a challenge because the 11 stations are strategically positioned throughout the city, Buchanon said. 

Citywide, personnel costs represent 80 cents of every $1 in departmental budgets. "We can't cut spending without reducing jobs. This impacts hundreds of households in our community at a time when the national economy is in tough shape," Luecke said. 

Even with the prospects of reductions in public-safety personnel, the budget impact to the police and fire department could have been worse. While the police budget will be reduced by 15 percent and the fire budget by 18 percent by 2010, reductions for many other non-revenue-supporting city departments ranged from 24 percent to 51 percent.

"Our local taxes pay for important services. As with most cities in Indiana, South Bend's budget is primarily devoted to public safety, but local taxes also pay for parks and economic development, for streets and code enforcement. When the Governor's plan cut property tax revenue, it also cut key services and personnel. In many communities across the state, it presented a serious challenge for public safety," Luecke said. "Without replacement revenue, Governor Daniels' tax caps will mean not cutting the fat in our public-safety operations, but cutting muscle and bone."

For three years, Luecke has been a leader in a bipartisan coalition of mayors across the state through the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns in lobbying the legislature. IACT has proposed that the legislature give communities an array of potential revenue sources, enabling each community to choose the taxes that best fit its context. Indianapolis, for example, has several local taxes aimed primarily at non-residents to support city services. To date, the only option that the State has provided to local governments is to raise local income taxes.

"During these budget sessions we have presented spending plans to show how we will live within the constraints of HEA 1001. Some would suggest that these are ´scare tactics.' The reality is that the loss of $21 million per year in revenue is scary, requiring deep cuts in police and fire, parks, economic development and general government," Luecke said. "From the beginning of the discussions about tax caps, I have warned that this is a tax shift, not a tax cut. In order to preserve the key services which are critical to South Bend's success, which are expected by our residents and businesses, I will be a proponent for an increase in local income taxes to fund operations. 

"We will also continue to look for efficiencies in the delivery of service, for opportunities to combine operations, and for ways to grow our economy so that new jobs and private investment will help to relieve the impact of the caps. I will also continue to lobby for alternate sources of revenue to spread the cost of local government services, so that South Bend will not only survive, but thrive," Luecke added.

Also Wednesday, the Council heard that the Morris Performing Arts Center and the Palais Royale Ballroom are expected to become self-supporting by 2010 without receiving City subsidies through the general fund. Losses now are subsidized by property taxes. The cultural complex will make targeted cuts of $89,000 by 2010 while increasing revenue. A 2007 study showed the Morris and the Palais had a $5.9-million indirect economic impact on the community each year – a level that increased dramatically since 2004.

Few performing arts centers in the country survive without subsidies, noted Dennis Andres, executive director of the Morris, which is consistently ranked among the world's Top 50 theater venues. "I'm proud to report the Morris theater, at the close of fiscal year 2007, operated in the black. We showed a profit, and we will also close 2008 with a profit!" Andres said. "And we are generating sales tax revenue of over $350,000 annually."

Wednesday was the final of five budget sessions scheduled by the Common Council. Because of a change in budget deadlines this week by the state's Department of Local Government Finance, Controller Catherine M. Fanello is working with the Council to revise the budget schedule with a planned final adoption of the 2009 budget by Nov. 1.