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Coos Bay proposes vehicle lease program and consolidates North Coos dispatch budget
Summary
The Coos Bay Police Department’s budget proposes participation in an enterprise vehicle-lease program and requests four fully upfitted patrol vehicles; the city also presented the consolidated North Coos dispatch center budget following county-wide consolidation of 911 dispatching.
Coos Bay police and public-safety budget items featured two notable items at Thursday’s Budget Committee meeting: a planned vehicle-lease program for patrol cars and a consolidated North Coos dispatch center budget that covers county-wide 911 dispatch services the city now operates.
Police Chief Chris Chabonar told the committee the department plans to enter the enterprise lease program and budgeted for four upfitted patrol vehicles in the coming year. The department expects a monthly lease cost and will show related debt-service lines for principal and interest; the presentation included a GASB-driven accounting treatment that books the multi-year lease and the associated capitalized asset values for audit and reporting purposes.
Chief Chabonar said the lease program should reduce overall maintenance costs and improve fleet management. The program includes vendor support for fleet lifecycle management, with replacement and resale timing intended to capture higher resale values and recycle equity into future fleet needs. The department estimated patrol fleet size at 11–14 marked units historically and said it is evaluating whether to operate with fewer vehicles (possibly nine) if lifecycle maintenance and lease management reduce the need for spare units.
The committee asked about the large budget line showing a multi-year representation of vehicle costs. Staff explained accounting rules require booking the asset value and long-term payment obligation to comply with GASB reporting; the adopted budget will show the annual debt-service payment that the city must appropriate.
On dispatch, the committee reviewed Fund 10, the North Coos Dispatch Center, which now covers police, fire and emergency services countywide after the city consolidated dispatch operations. The budget is sized for a fully staffed communications center of about 21.25 full-time equivalents, and the city said it is close to fully staffing the center with a few hires in background checks. Communications administrator Tessa Cupp was introduced and credited with coordinating the consolidation.
Staff presented the dispatch budget as a consolidated and more transparent single fund so the city can track actual dispatch costs and subscriptions (for CAD and related software) and establish a stable funding base for the center. Committee members asked about subscription costs, least principal and lease interest lines, and the city explained those items relate to capital and subscription accounting.
The committee did not adopt additional changes to police or dispatch budgets at the session; staff will present the full adopted package to the City Council in June.
