Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet... Wait, You Said There Isn't Money for Public Safety Raises?

In case you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve seen the local news headlines about the City being unable to pay for contractually agreed upon 3% raises for the IMPD and IFD.  The mayor has gone so far as to threaten a line-item veto because locating the funding for these raises has become such a touchy issue.  Looking at the city budget proposal for next year the numbers seemed a bit inconsistent.  I’m a bit of a novice at reading government budgets, but nonetheless I think we can make some headway.

I was unable to find year-after-year staffing levels for IFD, however I was able to get some numbers from the IMPD website.  According to their 2009 Annual Report (used because it looks like they didn't release annual reports in 2010 or 2011, and if they did they’re not posted on the city's website), IMPD had 1,617 sworn personnel at the end of 2009.  According to indy.gov IMPD added a net of 27 officers in 2010, lost 15 officers in 2011 and as of the middle of this year there have been an additional 22 fewer officers.  This gives us a working total of 1,644 officers at the end of 2010, 1,629 in 2011, and, assuming no changes, 1,607 at the end of this year.  Again, can’t find staffing numbers for IFD.

Looking at the expenditures in the 2013 introduced budget, Personal Services for IMPD has been allocated $163,733,774.  According to the same 2009 Annual Report I mentioned earlier, the Personal Services expenditure is defined as salary, benefits, and overtime.  Now, the actual final budget in 2011 showed Personal Services at $158,813,483, and this paid for a department that ventured between 1,634 and 1,619 sworn policemen and women.  Now, assuming all other spending was flat, if we round up and account for the 1% raise that IMPD received in 2012 they should have been comfortable with $160,401,617.  We get $165,213,667 when we factor in the 3% raise in 2013, which creates a shortfall of $1,479,893.  This is the fiscal shortage for public safety raises, right?  Wrong.

Remember those staffing levels?  There will be at least 37 fewer officers at the beginning of 2013 as there was at the beginning of 2011.  If we divide annual total compensation cost by total manpower, that means that the average officer received total compensation of salary, benefits, and overtime in 2011 of $96,601, but in 2013 this number divides out as $101,887, which per officer is well north of $1,000 more than raises received in 2012 AND scheduled raises for 2013.  I was unable to locate any information on civilian pay or how that relates to this line item, however the 2009 statement reported 278 civilian personnel and IMPD’s website currently reports “over 250.”  Thus, I think it’s safe to say civilian staffing levels have been flat.  I can’t speak to property tax caps or TIF expansion as to how it relates to revenue, which is why I’m dealing directly with the money that’s already been budgeted.  It appears as if the pay scales IMPD and IFD employ are relatively set in stone, so any other raises that would have been handed out should have been made public. I wasn’t able to locate any concrete information on civilian compensation packages.  The only reason there should be any kind of budget shortfall is if IMPD plans on hiring more officers, but most media outlets are reporting that it isn’t in the works.  I believe I had heard that IFD may be hiring more firefighters but I haven’t been able to confirm that.

The math clearly indicates the city has already budgeted AT LEAST 5.5% MORE per officer in 2013 than in 2011, but the city is saying the money isn’t there for a 3% raise?  Like I said I’m an amateur at reading city budgets, but if I am wrong somebody help me out here.  Where did the money go?  Is IMPD getting a reduction in insurance premiums, or will there be significant amounts of funding for overtime this year?  If the money did go somewhere else who put it there and why?  And does anybody know where I can find staffing levels for IFD?