As Taylor expands, the need for additional police and fire personnel is growing as well, and even with potential federal assistance on the horizon, city leaders are still grappling with how to pay for it all.
At its regular meeting April 27, The Taylor City Council authorized the Taylor Police Department to apply for a Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring grant, which is administered by the United States Department of Justice, to help fund five new police officers, potentially the first real staffing increase since 1999.
However, this is not the first time the department has applied for this grant, nor is it the first time asking for a personnel boost.
“This is not a new request, as it goes for a staffing increase,” said Chief Henry Fluck. “I have made this request for the last four budget cycles, and I will of course make it this year for the fifth consecutive year.” If selected, Fluck said the COPS grant would fund 65% of an entry level position of about $83,000 in year 1, 50% in year 2, and 32% in year 3, with a maximum total grant amount per position of $125,000, for a total of $622,271.28 over a 3-year period. Any other associated costs, including the salary matching, training, overtime, travel, as well as any equipment needs, would have to be borne by the city, Fluck said.
In addition, this application comes on the heels of Taylor Fire Department applying for a FEMA grant to fund nine new firefighters, which would cover 100% of the salaries and benefits for the first three years. However, during that period, the municipality would still be responsible for equipment and training costs. Starting in year 4, however, the city would be on the hook for an additional $838,000 to fund all the positions, officials said.
Jeff Wood, the city’s chief financial officer, said this could make a challenging situation starting next year, despite increasing revenue from property and use taxes, but especially in 2027.
“Grant costs would consume 41% of projected new revenues in Year 1 (FY24) and Year 3 (FY26) of the grant,” Wood wrote in a report. “New police and fire staff would need to be a stated priority of the city’s as funding such increases reduces funding available for other city purposes (trade off principle). (The city) could allocate $200,000 of new revenue to a reserve account in each of the first three years of the grant, thus allowing the budget to “build up to” the full cost in FY 2027, but this approach would reduce funding for other city purposes in the first three years as funding is reserved.”
At the meeting, Wood said there is no getting around the higher costs.
“Police and fire staff are some of the most expensive costs,” Wood said. “We have limited resources. Back home I always used to say we can cut the pie 25 different ways, but the pie is still only one pie, and the pie is not getting any bigger.”
However, City Manager Brian LaBorde said with careful planning, the new positions could be budgeted “Outside of the grant itself, what finance is showing is another way to (pay long term is) begin to create a savings account, so we don’t have a balloon payment at the end, “ LaBorde said. “I have seen a lot of communities kick the can, and next thing you know, at the end of the grant, they are having to take drastic measures. They lay off the personnel that they took on because of the grant or other areas suffer.”
Despite this, council members seemed confident that a staffing boost for emergency responders should be a priority.
“The city is growing,” said District 4 Councilman Robert Garcia. “It has been thirty officers since ‘99, and we have grown a lot since ‘99, and I am really happy that you brought this forward again, Chief, for the fifth year in a row. Maybe the fifth time is the charm, so that we can get this done. Five officers is a lot, but I know you work with (CFO) Jeff (Wood) to see what we can do to make that happen.”
At-large Councilman echoed this assertion.
“I appreciate the presentation and the very conservative concern with future revenue coming in,” Ariola said. “That’s always a question. We can’t tell what the future is going to hold, but I think first responders are beyond needed … so I think getting any kind of free money initially, and we have those four years to plan, but I think to stay at our current level, I don’t believe is an option.”
District 2 Councilman Mitch Drummond was also in agreement.
“I think the community expects us to provide certain things like streets, water, and wastewater, but really and truly fire and police, first responders are the most important thing that we do, so I would agree with Mr. Ariola that we need to proceed with this.”
