Houston police may get the ax

HOUSTON — The city council here is meeting Monday night to address an $80,000 budgetary shortfall. On the chopping block: the Houston Police Department.

The city first formed the department in 2004 with money left over from its contract to provide animal control services for Wasilla, Deputy Mayor Lance Wilson said. Over the next four years, Wasilla’s demands for animal control grew and the contract no longer covered Houston’s costs.

The department, which usually employs one or two officers plus administrative assistants and a community service officer, now relies on sales tax revenues and fines and citations for its operating budget.

That revenue is not coming in, Wilson said. Money from sales tax is down slightly over what was budgeted, but traffic citations are far below what the city predicted for fiscal year 2010.

“The tickets weren’t being written,” Wilson said. “And the tickets that were written were not processed.”

In addition to traffic tickets, revenue is down from things like construction permits and impounded vehicles, Wilson said. A few weeks ago, the council re-evaluated what revenue the city can realistically expect to see between now and the end of the fiscal year on June 30. The estimated shortfall is predicted to be more than $80,000.

To close this gap, the city is cutting everything not absolutely necessary, Wilson said. There will be no more training that has not already been paid for, no more purchases of new equipment and no more per diem or travel expenses.

“The last thing we would be looking at is cutting payroll,” he said.

Voters mandated the city fund roads and fire service through property taxes. The police department has never received such a referendum, Wilson said.

Since the department started it has never been staffed enough to provide 24-hour coverage seven days a week. This meant Alaska State Troopers provided coverage for calls that came in while Houston police officers were off duty.

Just last week, the director of AST informed the city his department will only respond to certain types of calls coming in from Houston, like emergencies or life-threatening situations. All other minor calls will be routed through the Houston Police Department regardless of officer availability, Capt. Dennis Casanovas said.

If Houston ceases to have a police department, the troopers would provide coverage to the city just like in any other unincorporated area of the Mat-Su Borough, Casanovas said. All the calls would be routed through the troopers and given priority according to state standards.

“We would attempt to respond as resources were available,” Casanovas said.

This means a slower response time to certain types of calls, Houston Mayor Roger Purcell said. Not having a local department also means officers will not get to know the people they protect.

However, because traffic violations that cover a large portion of the department’s budget were so low this year, the city has to make choices where to cut, Purcell said.

“If (the voters) want to come forward and get a petition on the ballot to get funding for the police department by raising property taxes, I would be happy if someone did that,” Purcell said.

Wilson said cutting the police department — with it’s $20,000 monthly operating expenses — would bring the city “much closer” to closing the budget gap.

But even if the police department is shuttered, the city will likely retain its community service officer, Wilson said. This officer responds to code compliance violations and deals with animal control issues. The city’s animal shelter is open, but only as a temporary facility for animals before they are adopted or transferred to the Mat-Su Borough’s animal shelter.

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.