Mayor Garcia has recommended a city management proposed FY18 budget that adds no additional citywide deployable police officers for LB taxpayers. The proposed FY18 budget proposes 848 total officers, but 93.25 officers are contracted and paid to handle tasks at the Port, Airport, LBCC, LBUSD, LB Transit, Carmelitos and now Metro's Blue Line. These contracted officers are full fledged LBPD officers but they aren't available to handle citywide calls for service or routine citywide deployment during their contracted shifts.
In addition, newly contracted officers to handle Metro Blue Line policing account for 26 "full time [budgeted] equivalents" in FY18, all of which will be initially provided to Metro by LBPD using overtime worked by LBPD officers handling other citywide assignments. (LBPD management says used this method successfully in the past for other contracting entities and it shouldn't affect officer levels visible elsewhere.)
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By the numbers, Mayor Garcia's recommended FY18 budget offers taxpayers 754.75 budgeted sworn officers citywide (848 total - 93.25 contracted = 754.75 for citywide neighborhood deployment.) [Management's budget indicates it includes one-time funding for a "fourth back-to-back police academy with a maximized number of recruits which is expected to result in significant additional officers over authorized strength levels in FY18" but it's not immediately clear if the officers will be for citywide or contracted purposes, and if they're planned to offset retirements and attrition expected in FY19.]
By way of context, in mid-1994, outgoing Mayor Ernie Kell handed incoming Mayor Beverly O'Neill (with a lower city population and without plans for dramatically increased density) 791 budgeted officers. Under Mayor O'Neill, Council votes slowly but steadily increased officers and in 2006, after which candidate Bob Foster pledged to put 100 more officers on the street in his first four years in office. Mayor Foster initially sought to make good on his pledge but fatally recommended Council approval of contracts with the three major city employee unions (that had endorsed him) which didn't include pension reforms. (Only then-Councilwoman Rae Gabelich dissented on fire and IAM, Gary DeLong dissented on IAM.) When the economy went into a steep decline in late 2008, the contracts Foster had recommended and Council majorities approved became unsustainable.
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Foster responded by recommending, and Council majorities enacted, what management called "proportional budget reductions" that significantly decreased police levels for LB taxpayers. From 1,020 officers (which included 59 contracted officers plus 17 police academy recruits), the City Council -- including votes by Councilman Garcia -- voted to eliminate 208 officers, the largest reduction in police officers for taxpayers in the more than 100 year history of LB, erasing roughly 20% of LBPD's budgeted strength. (Other cities weathered "the great recession" without doing this.)
Today, out of 208 officers erased -- and despite a June 2016 Mayor-Council sought/LB voter-approved sales tax increase that has left LB consumers paying the highest sales tax rate among all CA cities [shared with only a few] -- the LB City Council restored only 17 officers in FY17...and Mayor Garcia proposes that the Council restore no additional citywide deployable officers in FY18.
Below is what Mayor Garcia told the Council and the public on Aug. 1, 2017 alongside the record:
| Mayor Garcia | Record |
|---|---|
| "It's exciting that this budget includes 37 new positions in the police and fire department." | Garcia's figure includes 26 contracted "full time equivalent" officers funded with overtime who won't be available for citywide neighborhood policing tasks during their Metro contracted shifts [plus two PD administrative positions.] Garcia also cited increased fire positions without acknowledging that his recommended budget fails to restore fire engines at fire stations 17, 18 or 1 (the latter a second engine previously maintained due to downtown density and high rises.) |
| "This is the largest increase of new police and firefighters that this city has had as well, in probably in over 10, 15 years." | It's not an "increase." LB taxpayers no longer have 191 budgeted citywide deployable police officers they previously had. |
| "In addition to those 37 positions, we are adding 28 new Long Beach police officers due to the support of Metro, through the new Metro contract." | Mayor Garcia's budget adds no new Long Beach police officers citywide. It produces a visible presence of 12 LBPD officers per 24 hour period as required by Metro's contract along Metro's LB Blue Line section. Since most LBPD officers work four-day weeks on ten-hour shifts, LBPD has to produce 26 "full time equivalent" contracted officers over a seven day period to cover the Metro contract. Contracted officers aren't available to handle citywide assignments during their contracted shifts. At least initially, LBPD plans to produce the 26 "full time equivalent" Metro contracted officers by using overtime worked by current LBPD officers. |
| "Just on police positions alone, we're, I'm not sure if we have the exact number, Tom, but we're probably adding just police personnel, what, [Ass't City Mgr. Tom Modica: approximately 40] about 40 new Long Beach police officers to the, I don't remember the last time that we've done that, and so that's pretty exciting. That's part of this budget, and all parts of the city will experience that added growth in the force." | Mayor Garcia's budget adds no new Long Beach police officers citywide. It produces a visible presence (a good thing) of 12 LBPD officers per 24 hour period as required by Metro's contract along Metro's LB Blue Line section. Since most LBPD officers work four-day weeks on ten-hour shifts, LBPD has to produce 26 "full time equivalent" contracted officers over a seven day period (which LBPD will do initially using overtime) to cover the Metro contract. Chief Luna has said publicly that he believes the increased visible presence of LBPD officers along a major entering corridor to the City is expected to bring benefits beyond the Blue Line itself (as a deterrent to entering wrongdoers.) However it also remains true that contracted officers, including Blue Line contracted officers, aren't available to handle citywide assignments during their contracted shifts. |
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During the first Council budget session, Councilman Daryl Supernaw made no statement(s) regarding the proposed budget's failure to restore Fire Engine 17 to Station 17 (a matter he's raised in prior years' budget discussions.) In Jan. 2014, a house across the street from Station 17 burned until a Fire Engine rushed from Station 19 arrived (with the fire doubling in size every minute) because Station 17 has no fire station capable of quickly spraying water to douse the blaze. The Council is scheduled to discuss police and fire budgets at its next budget session on Aug. 8.
Only three meetings of LB's full City Council are now scheduled (Aug. 8, 15, 22) before Councilmembers vote on the FY18 budget on Sept. 5 (with additional votes possible Sept. 12.) The three meetings of the Council's "Budget Oversight Committee" [Mungo, Supernaw, Austin] are scheduled earlier on the same days as the Council meetings on subjects of the Committee chair's choosing.
City staff will also present its proposed FY18 budget at meetings scheduled in various Council districts where the public can speak, which Councilmembers may or may not attend and no voted budget actions can be taken.
A City Council majority change, revise, tweak or give rubberstamp approval what city management proposes and the Mayor recommends. Five Councilmembers can make those changes; six are needed to override a Mayoral veto if he uses it.
In FY17, the Council approved new contracts containing raises for nearly all City Hall employee groups (including city management.) These included a new contract for LB's police officers' union providing 9% raises over three years (annual cost by FY19 = $14.3 million) that city management said it planned to fund in part in FY17 with "less conservative budgetary actions such as reducing charges for insurance and funding for unfunded retirement liabilities" and leaving FY18 and FY19 costs to future "annual budget processes."
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In its FY18 budget documents, city managementacknowledges it applied "reasonably optimistic" revenue projections [without prior Council voted approval] instead of applying the City's currently enacted policy of "reasonably conservative" revenue projections. Management says its budget also assumes insurance savings by reducing the City's liability coverage (acknowledging increased potential exposures.)
At the July 25 Budget Oversight Committee meeting, City Hall Financial Management Dir. John Gross acknowledged that if it had not used these measures, its FY18 budget would be roughly $7 million out of balance. [This would likely require immediate service cuts prior to LB's 2018 elections for Mayor and five Council incumbents.]
City management has acknowledged that the City faces a deficit in FY19 (spending exceeding expected revenue) also after the 2018 elections.
Developing. Further to follow on LBREPORT.com
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