Saturday, February 21, 2009

Budget shortfall may mean 911 center cuts

Julia M. Dendinger News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jdendinger@news-bulletin.com

The county commissioners got a bit of a rude shock Wednesday evening when they found out that not only were their payments to the central dispatch center short but that shortfall could most likely lead to the loss of six dispatchers.

Bosque Farms Police Chief Joe Stidham, who is the newly elected chair of the 911 board, said he was appearing before the commission to request an increase of $172,371 to cover the shortfall of the county's share of the budget for the dispatch center.

Regional 911 center director Shirley Valdez first thanked the commissioners for their support of the emergency services gross receipts tax that passed last November.

"There are still four months before that tax will begin being collected, and we need to make it through the rest of the fiscal year," Valdez said. "So far, the county has paid not paid the total of $536,985."

Valdez said the county had made two payments of $182,307, but the $172,371 still owed.

"How did we miss that?" Commissioner Georgia Otero-Kirkham asked.

County Manager Eric Zamora said the county budgeted $364,614 as its portion to the operating budget of the central dispatch center. The City of Belen, Village of Los Lunas and Village of Bosque Farms also share in the expense of the dispatch center.

"That amount was based on prior year figures," Zamora said. "The higher amount was never budgeted. The request for an increase to the budget didn't come until June of 2008. By then, DFA was in the early stages of its approval of the county's final budget."

Commission chairman Pedro Rael asked how that number had been decided on. County finance director Wilma Abril said that amount was the county's payment to the dispatch center for the 2007-08 fiscal year.

"During the county's budget cycle, we asked for the 911 budget," she said. "Since we never received it, we were directed to budget the same amount as last year."

Rael asked if the county had budgeted based on the information it had and had paid out everything it had budgeted for the dispatch center. Abril said it had.

"So to satisfy all the budgetary needs of E-911, you need the $172,371," Rael asked. "What happened?"

Stidham said the 911 board was presented with the increases in June of 2008. "We have a fiscal agent, the Village of Los Lunas, and at that time, everyone received the budget projections with the increases," he said. "The board never heard anything back from the county."

The chief went on to say that the board believed the county had approved the increase, as the other entities eventually did. He noted that the nearly 50 percent increase across the board was a "substantial increase to everyone."

The numbers presented by Valdez that evening showed the requested funding from the three municipalities and the county increasing by 47.3 percent.

Rael asked how the director arrived at the needed increases. Valdez said there is a formula, based on calls for service and population. "We saw an increase from last year to this year and proposed the increase," she said.

The chairman asked what specifically happened from one year to another to necessitate the nearly 50 percent increase in the budget.

"As a newly formed central dispatch center, we were going in blind with no true idea of what it would cost," Stidham answered. "The calls for service have overwhelmed staff, leading to a great deal of overtime. To try and offset that overtime, we want to add dispatchers.

"We already have complaints about service. The center is understaffed, in my opinion."

Commissioner David Medina asked if the municipalities had paid the increased amount requested by the center or the amount they had each budgeted. Stidham said they all paid the new budget amount.

"Those are the numbers they received in June, which included the increase," he said.

The Bosque Farms payment increased from $45,615 to $67,180, Belen went from $252,014 to $371,153, Los Lunas increased its payment from $365,128 to $537,741 and the county was asked to pay $536,985 instead of its budgeted $364,614.

Living Cross Ambulance receives calls for service from the center but does not contribute to the operational costs. Stidham and Valdez said the company is being billed, but so far has refused to pay invoices. Stidham estimated that the ambulance company is billed approximately $60,000 per year.

Commissioner Ron Gentry, while acknowledging the vital need for the dispatch center, said his concern is that the budget increase needs to come out of recurring funds.

"We have to go back to DFA for approval," he said. "I doubt we have the recurring funds to cover over $172,000. We are running into the risk of being rejected again, which they will do if we can't show we have the recurring funds, right?"

Abril said that was very true. "The mid-year review showed we had collected $578,000 over and above last year," she said. "But other revenues are down, and that overage will be covering those shortfalls."

While it is a must that the county keep a balanced budget, Otero-Kirkham asked how could the center afford to lose six dispatchers. "We could keep some, maybe, at best," she said. "We are between a rock and a hard place. Can we afford this?"

Zamora said to determine that would require significant research into the budget, especially this late in the year. The county's fiscal year ends on June 30.

Rael said in his opinion the expense wasn't really a recurring one. "We will start getting the tax money for the center in July," he said. "What happens if we say OK? We have other requests before tonight for increases. What if we forgo the other two and do this?" The other increase requests were unrelated to the dispatch center.

The county manager said staff would have to look at the budget figures and do a more in-depth analysis of the matter. Abril asked if the chairman was proposing the shortfall be paid out of the general fund.

"This is a dire situation," Rael said. "We need to contribute the money. Are there any sources besides the general fund?"

Abril said they would have to look. "The only other fund I can see is the sheriff's gross receipts tax fund," she said. "And we all know that GRT is down."

Otero-Kirkham asked if the new numbers were available in June, why wasn't the county alerted sooner. "Why didn't someone tell us in August?" she asked. "Why are we only hearing about this now?"

County Fire Chief Charles Eaton, who is a member of the 911 board, said on June 6, the board heard the request for the increase.

"I think the biggest failure was in Los Lunas, since they failed to provide the status of the budget and then walked in at the ninth hour," he said. "There was a heated board discussion because everyone's budgets were already submitted."

In a phone interview on Friday, Eaton said as appointed board members, all they could do was return to their entities and present the increased budget request.

"I couldn't commit the county," Eaton said. "I did tell the county manager that the dispatch center was requesting an increase, and I was under the impression that Shirley (Valdez) was also going to speak to him. I was not privy to those meetings, so I don't know what was discussed."

At the commission meeting, Eaton pointed out that, according to the joint powers agreement that governs the dispatch center and the entities that contribute funds to its operation, it is the duty of the center director to present a preliminary budget to the board by March 1 of every year.

"The board members then take that preliminary budget to their entities," he said. "But the preliminary budget was not submitted until June. The whole process was deficient."

Valdez said she could not submit the preliminary budget to the board until the center's fiscal agent, the Village of Los Lunas, had completed its budget process and gave her the preliminary numbers.

Stidham said the board has been pressed by the village to get the issue of the county's short payments resolved. "Two weeks ago, they gave us a timeline of two weeks to get this handled or they are going to cut off the funding they are carrying for the county," he said. "I can't speak for them, but I think they will cut off spending any time now."

The commissioners all agreed that the situation was critical, but without more in-depth analysis of the county's budget, they could not promise to meet the shortfall.

"Then we will be forced to call a special meeting of the board and cut positions and services to the county," Stidham said. "If the funding is found, we will of course be able to reinstate those dispatchers."

In a phone interview Thursday, Los Lunas clerk-administrator Phillip Jaramillo said the village probably didn't get the final numbers to the 911 board until June.

"Everybody had enough time to get approval," he said. "If anyone couldn't get approval, they should have spoken to us so we could have adjusted the budget. No one came back to us from the county, so we assumed everything was OK and we went forward with the budget."

Jaramillo said it was his understanding that the board representatives went back to their respective entities and alerted them to the increase.

Abril was adamant that she never received a budget for the 911 call center last year, during an interview Thursday.

"I never received a budget from them last year," she said.

The county's preliminary budget is due to the state on June 1, and the final budget is due on July 31. Abril said that month grace period between the preliminary and final budgets gives counties and municipalities time to make changes.

"If I had those numbers, I would have taken them to the county manager and the commissioners," she said. "We would have presented the budget that was submitted with the increase and ask the commission what it wanted to do.

"That was the time to do it. But we weren't given anything. It would have been up to the commission to either increase the budget or leave it the same, but not having anything — that's hard to do."

On Thursday, Eaton said that during board discussions of the call center budget, an increase was not mentioned. "I was never under the impression it was going to increase," he said. "From January to June, we were looking at the same numbers. Then, on June 6, during an emergency meeting about an unrelated matter, the director brought us the higher numbers."

Eaton reiterated that he spoke to the county manager about the increased budget request. "This is just a no-good situation," the chief said.

Zamora could not be reached before News-Bulletin press time for further comment on the matter.

E-mail this story Printer-friendly version