Keller seeks 13.4 percent budget hike

Erin Neff

Tuesday, March 23, 1999 | 11:06 a.m.

Sheriff Jerry Keller wasted no time Monday parlaying public kudos the Metro Police Department received in a recent glowing audit into a request for a 13.4 percent overall budget increase, including $3 million more in city funds.

Despite City Council's concerns during last year's budget season that Metro was too top-heavy, auditor John Heiss of DMG Maximus reported that Metro is the best-managed of the 66 police departments he's audited in his career.

"It's really a management scheme and set of objectives that flow down through the department," Heiss told the council, which accepted his report and his offer to cut the cost of the audit in half to $80,000 because of the lack of findings.

Mayor Pro Tem Michael McDonald, who last year led the public criticism of a Metro budget he deemed didn't spend enough money on street officers, said he was pleased with the audit's outcome.

"It allows us to go back to the constituents with answers to their questions," McDonald said.

But Mayor Jan Laverty Jones took the positive audit one step further, saying "that kind of efficiency needs to be rewarded when they ask for more resources."

Keller followed the praise with just that -- a request for a 4.3 percent increase to $73.1 million in the amount the city pays for the department's services.

Metro's 1999-2000 budget request includes $1 million for use on New Year 2000-related patrols and money to implement a 311 nonemergency police number.