Public service counters at the Vancouver Police Department’s east precinct are scheduled to be staffed next year, according to the city’s proposed 2015-16 city budget.
The east precinct was closed to walk-up service in 2010 as part of budget cuts, but will reopen in 2015 once the city hires two non-commissioned police service technicians who can take reports from residents, Vancouver City Manager Eric Holmes said Thursday.
Other highlights in the $929 million two-year operating and capital budget include 30 grant-funded police officer and firefighter positions, which will be saved by tapping reserves, and enough cash reserves to replace two aging west-side fire stations.
“Since the onset of the Great Recession in 2008, the city has embraced a philosophy that reflects extraordinary fiscal discipline and a focus on living within our means,” Holmes wrote in an executive summary. “This philosophy was memorialized with the adoption of a comprehensively updated set of financial policies in mid-2012. These financial policies define the fundamental principles that guide the city’s budgeting through the end of this decade and beyond, reinforcing the key principles of fiscal prudence, pay-as-you-go funding and strong stewardship through asset management.”
The city council will discuss the proposed budget during two workshops this month and vote on it following a public hearing, 7 p.m. Nov. 3 at City Hall, 415 W. Sixth St.
Police Chief James McElvain, who will eventually be moving to east precinct as part of plans to close the department’s headquarters on Evergreen Boulevard, said Thursday he has heard concerns from the public about not having walk-up service at the precinct, 520 S.E. 155th Ave.
Three police service technicians are assigned to the department’s west precinct, 2800 N.E. Stapleton Road, and are available to help residents from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
McElvain said the city took its online reporting system down a month ago to fix some glitches but doesn’t have immediate plans to put it back up. He’d prefer people call 911 to report emergencies, and call or go to a precinct to report cold crimes.
Vancouver City Councilor Bart Hansen said reopening the east precinct for walk-up service “is a positive step in bringing our public safety back to where we were before the economic downturn. Citizens and neighborhood leaders have been requesting open access to the police department for years and now we are in a financial position to make that happen,” he said.
He’s even more impressed with the 30 public safety employees (17 police officers and 13 firefighters) funded by expiring grants that were able to be included in the operations budget.
“I believe we need to fund our core essential services without relying on the federal government,” Hansen said. “This budget brings us closer in achieving those goals. We still have other concerns to resolve, but these steps have the city on the right path,” said Hansen, one of the more outspoken advocates on the council for public safety services.
During a two-hour workshop in June, Holmes told the council that inflation and population growth have been driving Vancouver’s costs up by about 4 percent a year, outpacing 2.4 percent revenue growth. He warned that the 2015-16 budget would be prepared with the assumptions the council will enact annual 1 percent property tax levy increases and annual total utility (sewer, water and stormwater) rate increases of 2.5 percent.
