City Council OKs police budget

Denise Cardinal

Wednesday, May 20, 1998 | 10:06 a.m.

The Las Vegas City Council did not go quietly into its final budget meeting on Tuesday, but it approved Metro Police's $70 million request without discussion.

The city's overall budget for fiscal 1999 totals $261.5 million. That's about an 8 percent increase from last year's budget.

Rather than just accept what city staff asked for, the council demanded explanations for new positions and new equipment. In some cases, those requests were denied.

For instance, a graphic designer that was slated to be hired for the Neighborhood Services division was axed. Council members said they didn't want every department to have its own graphic designer, and that there wasn't sufficient reason to hire for the position.

"I just have questions about why we should get into the graphic artist business as a city," said City Councilman Larry Brown, the most vocal critic on the board. Brown also asked departments to cut 20 percent off of their travel budget for the next fiscal budget.

Other positions that were asked to be funded were put on hold, the money reserved until the need for the positions were proved to the council.

One example is the Parks and Leisure Department's request for $125,000 for the partial salaries of eight center coordinators. The council didn't approve the request, however, because those centers are still under construction.

Chances are, Brown said, that the centers won't be built on time. Since they were first expected to be done by next June, there's no need for the city to put money aside for positions that won't really be needed until next summer.

"I absolutely support what you're saying," Mayor Jan Laverty Jones said. "But how can we say we want more parks and not staff them?"

The money was put into a reserve fund for the positions, allowing the parks department to come back to the council when the time for hiring comes around.

In one case, however, the council asked for positions to be added.

Mark Vincent, the city's finance director, calculated the budget to add five new marshalls -- city police officers that patrol city parks and city buildings.

Councilman Michael McDonald said that the council wanted 10 more officers, which was really a reduction from the department's original request for 20 more marshalls.

Instead, Vincent arranged the budget to fund for five marshalls now, with the ability to add another five at the mid-fiscal-year point in January. With the city's police academy graduating eligible marshalls only every six months, this would have essentially pushed back the addition a full year.

The council voted to add all 10 marshalls with this budget.

Previous budget meetings pitched the council against Las Vegas Metro Police, which eats up the largest chunk of the city's budget.

The city asked for an outside audit before approving the $70 million Metro asked for fiscal 1999. Council members were concerned that the money wasn't being wisely spent.

Sheriff Jerry Keller answered questions regarding the budget at the last City Council meeting. He told the council that he welcomed an audit, and that Metro's budget was the most scrutinized in the state of Nevada.

But Tuesday's meeting, with Keller and other Metro brass present, saw no discussion on the matter.

The outside audit, to be conducted by David M. Griffith & Associates, will be voted on at Tuesday's City Council meeting.