It is true that the potential savings from both the proposed merger of the police departments (PDs) and the merger of the 911 systems are unknown.
Would these have saved the city, park board, county and ultimately the tax payers of the City of Minneapolis money? We do not know because the mayor, majority of the city council, and the park board chose not to fully evaluate the ideas. In terms of the PDs merger, I believe (but am not interested in digging up the folder unless there is interest by the council or park board in the idea) the savings included cuts to sworn administration. John can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe at the time of the conversations, the Park PD had a chief, 2 lieutenants, and 6 sergeants; with ballpark respective salaries and benefits of $120,000, $90,000, and $75,000. (Again these numbers are from memory.) A merger was projected to reduce the need for the chief, both lieutenants, and 4 sergeant positions resulting in a savings of around $600,000. In addition, there would have been other savings like redundant non-sworn administrative positions, equipment, and office space. But, since there was not support for the idea, the true savings were never determined. In terms of the 911 systems merger, the analysis was at the stage of understanding what both systems delivered in terms of 911 services; including type of dispatch, response time, etc. The systems were very compatible in regards to law enforcement (police and sheriff) dispatch. However, there were significant differences in the dispatching of fire services. This was not a total surprise since the FD had reported concerns early on. The city had prepared a spec sheet of required service performance for all 911 services (which included the city's higher level of fire dispatch protocol.) The county was in the process of responding to the city's requirements. Thus the true savings are not known. In a time of budget shortfalls, all rocks must be fully turned over, regardless of the comfort level. Dan Niziolek ECCO 10th Ward City Council ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Brauer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <mpls@mnforum.org> Sent: Monday, September 12, 2005 8:53 AM Subject: RE: [Mpls] RE: Wielinski post and Niziolek's commentary > John Erwin writes: > > > No one can verify the projected $750,000 savings with merging the Park > > Police into the City Police Department! > > Dan N. also mentioned merging city and county 911 would save $4 million that > could go into public safety. > > The Council scuttled the matter 8-5 in March. The majority felt the savings > were illusory, though as Dan notes, the idea was terminated before a full > study. > > The mayoral politics of it are interesting - Rybak supporting scuttling the > idea; McLaughlin originally proposed the idea in late 2004 but would not > comment about the Council's rejection after receiving AFSCME's endorsement. > > The details flesh out the reasoning. Here are the SW Journal's stories on > the matter for those who want to know more: > > Original proposal: > http://www.swjournal.com/articles/2004/11/04/news/news13.txt > > Idea scuttled: > http://www.swjournal.com/articles/2005/03/18/news/news09.txt > > David Brauer > Kingfield > > REMINDERS: > 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. > > 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. > > For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html > For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract > ________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org > Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
