Cuts are coming.
That was the message Monday night as the Jamestown City Council began combing through the proposed 2010 city fire and police budgets - a tough review each year because public safety is, by far, the city's single largest expenditure but also the one service a community cannot do without.
The city will spend about half of its proposed $31.8 million 2010 budget on public safety - over $10 million in salaries alone and another $6 million in benefits, capital outlay and debt service for those departments.
''I think - unless something miraculous happens that I don't forsee - cuts are inevitable,'' Council President Greg Rabb, D-At-Large, said of the police department's budget. ''We're going to have to find a way to cut this. Given the difficult situation we find ourselves in, I just don't see that we can do anything but make cuts. I'm certainly not an expert on public safety. I just don't see any other way out.''
City Councilman Steve Szwejbka, D-Ward 1, said he would be ''very uncomfortable trimming personnel from our public safety departments.''
Szwejbka, a former police officer turned professor of criminal justice at Mercyhurst College, said the city will have to ''take a long, hard look at how (the police department) utilizes what it has and what it gets involved in.''
''Making decisions is nothing but good management and good supervision,'' he said. ''I do agree that cuts - serious cuts - are needed. And I agree that it ultimately comes down to what a community can afford. But the community depends on public safety.''
For his part, City Councilman Tony Dolce, R-Ward 2, took aim at the department's proposed overtime expenses - in particular, the amount included for police coverage of special events, such as the city's holiday parade and Labor Day festivities. The draft 2010 budget includes $175,000 for regular overtime, another $35,000 for premium holiday overtime and $15,000 for special events overtime.
''To be honest with you, I think it's ridiculous to spend that kind of money to have an officer stand on the corner at a few events a year,'' Dolce said of special events overtime. ''If we're going to talk about prioritizing, let's talk about that. Certainly, we don't want to be understaffed and we do want officers out on the streets patrolling. But those line items aren't personnel - they're just money.''
The story was much the same during the council's review of the city fire department budget.
Lance Hedlund, the city's deputy fire chief, told council members that the department is ''already being faced with hard choices.'' Last month, the council's Finance Committee recommended that the council hold off on hiring a firefighter to replace one who hasn't worked since February. Another firefighter will be retiring in 2010, Hedlund said, but money for an entry-level firefighter to fill that slot was not included in Mayor Sam Teresi's executive budget.
''That puts us right on the line to where our impact payments will go up a notch if we lose someone else,'' Hedlund said. ''It leaves me no margin for sick time, personal days or injuries. And that's a difficult place to be.''
Hedlund offered the council a note of caution regarding cuts in public safety. He referenced the Great Fire of 1910, during which much of Jamestown's downtown was destroyed. It was that fire, he said, which led to the creation of a paid city fire department.
''The bottom line is what your citizens can afford, and I understand that,'' he said. ''But you also have to ask whether the city can afford to make cut after cut and then have something drastic like that 1910 fire happen and take a chance on not being prepared for it.''
Ultimately, though, it was Szwejbka who said ''the bottom line'' must be carefully considered.
''(Public safety) is certainly an emotional issue,'' he said. ''But it's not a calling from God, it's a business. When it comes to dollars and cents, we've got to very carefully consider that bottom line. It's going to be tough, there's no doubt about it.''