Ko Lyn Cheang photo
New police recruits sworn in at the academy.
The mayor has cut over $521,000 from the city’s police department budget as part of a Board of Alders-mandated quest to reduce city spending by over $2 million.
Mayor Justin Elicker made that announcement Monday afternoon in an email press release about the city’s final approved budget for Fiscal Year 2020 – 21 (FY21), which went into effect on July 1.
When the Board of Alders amended and signed off on the city’s $567.9 million FY21 general fund budget at the end of May, the local legislators ordered the mayor to find $2,004,300 in non-Board of Education operational cuts.
They imposed that requirement so as to allow for a smaller tax increase than initially proposed in the budget that the mayor initially introduced in March. The alders did not, however, tell Elicker where to find those savings. They just told him to cut.
In Monday’s email release, Elicker said that his administration will achieve those $2 million-plus in cuts primarily by slashing additional currently vacant city positions.
“Even though the City was able to prevent layoffs, the overall impact to City operations is significant, particularly given the number of vacant positions that have been eliminated or brought to $1,” the press release read.
The press release stated that this fiscal year’s budget reduces to $1 or outright eliminates a total of 101 city positions that were vacant. Eighty of those position cuts were in the mayor’s original budget, and another 21 were included as part of the $2 million in savings.
Elicker said that the police department’s budget saw the largest operational hit, losing 48 currently vacant positions in total.
“The reduction in staffing will make it more difficult for the Police Department to have enough officers for walking beats, which are more labor-intensive, and also increases the likelihood of supervisor transfers (such as transferring district managers across districts) because fewer supervisor positions will exist,” the press release read.
The new round of cuts reduced the police department budget by a total of $521,744, through the reduction to $1 of two lieutenant positions, two sergeant positions, one officer position, and two records clerk positions.
The cuts come amidst a local and nationwide uprising against police brutality that has led to a broader movement to defund the police and redirect public spending towards social services that get at the root causes of crime.
Elicker stressed in the press release that these cuts were not prompted by a fundamental rethinking of how public money should be allocated. Instead, they came in response to the alders’ requirement that he cut almost at random so as to achieve the tax rate included in the final budget.
“These are not decisions I want to make,” the mayor is quoted as saying in the email release. “The Board of Alders and I have the same goal to strike the right balance between high taxes and services we provide. We may not land exactly on the same page as to how exactly to strike that balance. Still, we can acknowledge that these are difficult decisions, and there is no easy answer.”
While Elicker’s press release stated that his slashing of police positions has resulted in a “$4,000,000 reduction in the Police Budget,” FY21’s police budget is actually just over $1 million more than last fiscal year’s. Last year’s police budget came in at a total of $41,532,539, and this year’s, after these most recent cuts, is now at $42,554,170 (not including police officer healthcare, pension, worker’s comp, and litigation costs, which are accounted for elsewhere in the budget.)
The cutting of the 48 police positions and resulting $4 million in savings had a relatively small impact on the department’s overall budget year over year because of a $1.3 million increase to the department’s overtime budget, the moving of the $450,000 police rolling stock budget from the capital to the general fund, and an increase to the average salary for every police officer because of last year’s newly inked police union contract.
Police Union Response
On Wednesday afternoon, police union President Florencio Cotto sent the Independent the following comment on the mayor’s most recent cuts to the police budget.
With the beginning of the new fiscal year, Mayor Elicker’s message to the New Haven community was quite clear: you will have fewer cops on your city streets to deter rising crime. Shootings in the past 28 days have seen an increase of 116 percent in persons shot from this period last year. Mayor Elicker with his most recent budget cuts to the police department has given away the city to chaos and disorder.
The city will continue it’s new reality of increased violent crimes, and it will only worsen until elected officials witness the dangers related with cutting resources to the police. With soaring shootings turning New Haven into a war zone, our elected officials’ answer is to cut $4 million from the NHPD budget. Without safe streets there is no economic development, no prosperity, and certainly no environment for academic pursuits. It is so ironic that the elected City leadership has so much disdain for the police, but when confronted by angry masses cower for cover at One Union Avenue while the fine men and women of the NHPD protect them.
The well being of New Haven won’t improve until New Haven residents hold him and other officials responsible.
Below is the complete list of cuts that make up the over $2 million savings.
Legislative Services: $15,000
Mayor’s Office: $15,000
CAO: $30,000
Corporation Counsel: $30,000
Finance: $195,000
City Clerk: $15,000
Public Safety PSAP: $40,000
Police: $571,744
Fire: $566,126
Health: $30,000
Elderly Services: $20,000
Community Services Administration: $15,000
Engineering: $45,000
Parks and Public Works: $276,746
City Plan: $12,500
Traffic/Parking: $100,272
CEO: $3,000
Economic Development: $10,000
LCI: $15,000
Times are tough. But to cut police and fire resources is lunacy.
Welcome to high response time to calls for service. Calls for service will be stacked as there will not be enough personnel to answer received citizen calls. Forget about proactive street work and crime will rise putting everyone venturing into New Haven at risk.
Maybe cut the funding for the Useless Board of Alders.
The Mayor better be ready to explain the cuts to emergency services and have a cogent response over and above his usual solemnity combined with the wringing of hands.
Maybe Yale can buy the entire city.