Liberty Lake police budget submitted
Chief kept increase limited to 4 percent for 2009
Despite facing costs associated with a new police department building, Liberty Lake Police Chief Brian Asmus fought to keep his 2009 budget limited to a 4 percent increase.
He accomplished the feat in large part by extensively trimming some areas of the budget and by asking for two new reserve police officers.
“We only have one right now,” he said. “We’ve had four in the past. My goal is to have our reserve officers equal to our full-time officers.”
The police department includes a staff of nine full-time officers. Each reserve officer is required to volunteer 20 hours a month to the department and is not paid. “The reserve thing is kind of a stepping stone to full-time law enforcement,” Asmus said.
Even though Asmus isn’t asking for new full-time police officers, that’s not saying he wouldn’t like to have some if the budget allowed for it. “We should be between 12 and 14 officers based on our population and calls for service,” he said.
Adding to his budget troubles is the addition of a new bill – paying the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office somewhere between $50,000 and $70,000 for dispatching services. In the past the department hasn’t paid anything and the contract is still under negotiation.
“We sat down with all the small agency chiefs and worked out a formula based on calls for service,” Asmus said. However, the chiefs want to remove from the total calls that involve Spokane County Sheriff’s Deputies calling for assistance from local departments. About 25 percent of their calls fall into that category, said Asmus. “The sheriff is still looking at it.”
Asmus believes the proposed number is fair. It would be cost-prohibitive for the small department to employ several dispatchers on its own, he said.
Among the trims that Asmus made in the budget is a drop of 19 percent for office and operating costs, 81 percent in community policing and education, 64 percent in equipment and 66 percent in office and equipment purchases.
“We had to cut lots of areas,” he said. “We cut our training budget in half.”
Despite the heavy cuts in community policing and education, Asmus hopes to expand the number of community outreach and education opportunities. “There’s not a lot of costs involved in that,” he said. “It’s just time, not equipment.”
The police department budget, which totals $1.1 million, still must be approved by the City Council. It is scheduled to be voted on during the next council meeting on Nov. 18.