Greenbelt spends more on public safety than any other budget category. It accounts for more than a third of the expenditures in the Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) budget proposed by City Manager Nicole Ard. Under her proposal, the city would spend $12 million for public safety, 36.4 percent of total city expenditures. Of this, $11.5 million was proposed for police, $313,500 for animal control and $5,000 each for the Berwyn Heights and Branchville fire departments, who respond to calls in some parts of the city. In addition, the budget calls for continuing to transfer $120,000 a year to a reserve fund to aid the Greenbelt Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad in purchasing equipment.
Revenue
But that budget was completed before the coronavirus and the state and county business closures and stay-at-home orders slashed the city’s expected revenues. City staff have estimated that these could reduce revenue in the current fiscal year, which ends on June 30, by up to $1.5 million and up to $3.9 million in the first half of FY21.
Shortly before the April 29 budget worksession ended, Councilmember Emmett Jordan noted that this will be a very difficult year. Council still does not have an estimate of the revenue shortfall. Councilmembers will have to work hard with the city manager to balance the budget.
By law, council must approve a balanced budget by June 10. To get the budget to balance, the city manager has proposed not filling all current vacancies. That step will have a significant impact on the police department, with five positions to be left unfilled including deputy police chief, an animal control officer, a part-time animal control officer, a police records clerk and a halftime parking officer. In addition, two police officer positions will remain vacant for six months. Together, keeping these positions vacant is estimated to save the city $475,600.
Prior to the pandemic, staffing was proposed to stay at its current level of authorized positions with 53 sworn officers, 18.5 civilian full-time equivalents (FTE) and 3.5 animal control personnel. The department has had difficulty staying fully staffed and identified retention as an area it needs to work on. It currently has 50 officers either on the street or in the academy.
Shorthanded
Among the civilians in the department, the communications section is short three people. These positions do not appear on the list of vacancies to be left open. The records section is also shorthanded with a records clerk position on the list of positions to be left vacant. The animal control unit, with an authorized strength of 3.5 FTEs, currently has just one staff member. The city manager has proposed leaving one full-time and one part-time animal control officer slots vacant.
Three civilian volunteer groups that work with the police department are seeking the same funding as in the current fiscal year. The Greenbelt Community Emergency Response Team and the Greenbelt Community Animal Response Team are requesting $1,500 each. The Public Safety Advisory Committee is requesting $900. The department has proposed spending $77,400 on police body cameras. Chief Rick Bowers acknowledged that the cameras and related services are expensive but effective. Focus Bowers identified three areas of focus for FY21: retention and recruiting for both sworn and civilian positions, community relations focusing on communications and trust between police and residents, and community policing and responding to the increasing number of mental health-related calls. Captain Tim White reported an 82 percent increase in mental health calls, which decreased since the coronavirus struck. All staff including civilians have been trained in mental health first aid and four officers have received more extensive training. Council and staff will be finalizing the budget on Monday, May 18 starting at 8:30 p.m. There will be a public hearing on May 26 and the budget will be adopted at the June 8 council meeting.