'This is going to be a year of adjustment'

JOHN DAVIDSON\Frontiersman reporter

PALMER -- The city of Palmer finalized a budget for fiscal year 2005 this week, which was approved at a Dec. 14 meeting of the Palmer City Council.

Highlights of the fiscal 2005 budget are the new Palmer Ice Arena and the Southwest Utility Extension Project.

The cost of these two open-ended projects could be larger than the original budgeted amount, City Manager Tom Healy said. Although the funds for constructing the ice arena are known, it is not known how much it will cost to operate it. For now, the operating budget, at $245,617 for 2005, is only an estimate.

"This is going to be a year of adjustment and learning in terms of the ice arena," Healy said. "But we expect to open the arena around the end of the first week in January."

By far the largest budget item for 2005 is the Southwest Utility Extension Project -- a planned water and sewer line set to extend some six miles out from the city limits to the area of the new Valley Hospital.

Of the estimated $9 million total cost of the utility extension, $5.6 million will be spent in 2005. When completed, the extension will be a distinct element from the city's utilities, with its own operating costs that will be distinct from those of the rest of the city.

Money to pay back a $2.3-million bond, which Palmer voters passed in November to help fund construction of the line, will come from user fees. The bond will be paid back over a number of years from these user fees, Healy said. The primary user of the line initially will be Valley Hospital.

The city council also passed several amendments to the fiscal 2005 budget at the Dec. 14 meeting, including the addition of a police officer, which included funding for another patrol car and officer equipment for a total budget increase of $97,500.

Palmer Police Chief Russ Boatright had requested the additional officer, as well as the creation of a lieutenant position, for 2005. Currently, there are eight patrol officers and two sergeants on the Palmer police force. Boatright is in the process of hiring two more patrol officers -- one to fill a vacancy left by an officer who retired this year and the other to fill the new position.

Boatright says an ever-increasing call volume warrants another patrol officer, and the corresponding administrative duties that result from more calls and more traffic through Palmer warrant the creation of a lieutenant position in the department.

Part of the need for a lieutenant stems from the difficulty of devoting time to administrative duties in Palmer and being involved in interagency programs that involve Palmer Police, Boatright said.

"We need to stay abreast of what's going on in the law enforcement world; there are things going on that affect how we do business," Boatright said, citing the need for additional administrative staff to be involved in such programs as SART (Sexual Assault Response Team), and to research and apply for more law enforcement grants.

According to data from the Palmer Police Department, incidents of traffic accidents, sexual assault, robbery, driving under the influence and assault have been steadily increasing since at least 2002.

But Healy chose not to include the lieutenant position in 2005's budget, saying his preference is to add another patrol officer to the force and monitor service calls for the next six months to see if the call volume warrants the creation of a lieutenant position.

Council Member Katherine Vanover raised the issue at the Dec. 14 council meeting, proposing a secondary amendment to the fiscal 2005 budget that would include funding for a lieutenant position. Vanover said the department is already behind in staffing levels.

The police department in Palmer has been growing steadily in recent years. In addition to the new position budgeted for 2005, a patrol officer was added in 2003 and an evidence tech position was added in 2004.

Contact John Davidson at john.davidson@frontiersman.com.