Budget 2016 Police and Fire

HB Police remain committed to excellence in the community; budget will increase 29%

By Mayor Joy Cooper

HALLANDALE BEACH - Hallandale Beach’s Police Department is a state accredited, accreditation serves to distinguish Hallandale Beach as having met professional standards of conduct and service. Your Chief, all the men and women in Blue, City Manager Miller and the Commission are all committed to excellence when it comes to our community’s safety. Many of our residents know even with this accreditation we have been proactively addressing our use of force procedures. This evaluation is currently under way and we are looking forward to the final report. Even though the report is not complete the Chief has been working proactively with all stakeholders on our community policing efforts.

Police services are the largest portion of our budget at 34%. The staffing consists of 99 full time sworn police officers and 4 part time officers. In addition to the rank and file there is also 4 part time resource officers that work with our schools and 36 full time and 4 part time civilian staff that provide administrative support and other vital services. The department oversees over 49,000 calls for service annually.

Patrolling is a core service but there are many other administrative tasks that take place behind the scenes. Records management, court liaison, evidence and property management and continuing accreditation service. Over that past few years’ community oriented police projects have been implemented to enhance the quality of life for our residents. Community Involvement Team, Community Action Team and Neighborhood Enhancement teams. These teams work with residents and other departments addressing our strategic goals.

Last year the main initiative was BEAT – Building Effectiveness Accountability and Trust. This multi-pronged approach incorporates assigning specific officers to various areas of the city so they can get to know the city better. It also allows residents to get familiar with our officers on a one on one basis. They are also conducting Roll Call without Walls. Rather than meeting at the police department they meet in public areas to enhance visibility. The chief has also added foot patrols and increased bike patrols. After meeting residents or business owners for the first time the officers are also doing a double back so they can get to know the stakeholders even better.

While the level of services were increased the changes in overall budget expenses increase approximately 1 million dollars with a total budget of 20 million dollars. It should be noted that many of these project and initiatives are utilizing our current staff. This past Wednesday the budget was released to the commission and is on line. Staffing levels will remain the same accept for the addition of an Internal Affairs Captain. I am looking forward to reviewing the budget and what other crime prevention initiatives will be addressed for fiscal year 2015- 2016.

The second largest departmental budget is Fire at 14 million. We have 95 personnel that provides fire suppression and advance life support services to over 9,000 emergency calls. This budget utilizes about 23 % of our general fund budget. Fire is funded differently from Police. We use a combination of General Fund and Fire Fee. The Fire Fee can only be used for fire services. As I wrote a few weeks ago the city is considering increasing the fire fee to address future fire infrastructure needs projected at 8 million dollars.

The city has three fire stations. Over the past three years we have been planning the replacement of the Main Fire Station and are looking forward to the ground breaking this year. In anticipation of this expense we increase our fee to $145 to cover the cost of construction of the new station. This year we are looking at upgrades to Three Islands Station and rehabilitation of some components of the Beach Station. It is estimated that these costs combined with fire truck and apparatus needs will necessitate an increase in the fire fee or ad valorem rate or a combination of the two. This will be one of the main budget items this year that will be debated. I just hope we continue on our proactive approach to addressing these critical needs and not kick the can to next year.

Personnel and general operations take the largest part of our budget and will increase approximately 8.6 percent over last year’s. The general fund will increase 3.7 million dollars due to new positions, contractual cost of living increases and 18% increase in health insurance costs.

Our city overall budget will increase 29 %. This is the largest increase in many years. It is mainly due to multiple large capital projects that include OB Johnson Park and Hepburn Center, the Main Fire Station and Parks covered by the GO Bond. Capital projects total 32 million dollars. We will also be preforming Municipal Complex Improvements.

More on the budget next week; Parks and Public Works.



As always feel free to contact me anytime with you questions, concerns and ideas for our community by cell/text 954-632-5700 anytime or office number 954-457-1318. You can also email me at Joy@mayorjoycooper.com or JCooper@cohb.org.