Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Flagstaff chiefs urge council to explore new revenue tools for police and fire staffing, technology and facilities
Summary
Fire and police chiefs told the council their departments face unmet staffing, equipment and facility needs that typical annual revenues cannot fully cover; councilors directed staff to study funding options and return with proposals.
Fire and police leaders told the Flagstaff City Council Friday that rising call volumes, aging facilities and new technology needs create gaps the city’s current ongoing revenues will not easily fill.
Mark Gaillard, Fire Chief, said the department is managing increased call volumes and requires more daily staffing, upgraded apparatus storage and modernized station alerting. “The traditional revenues that you all are wrestling with…are insufficient to address what these future needs are,” Gaillard said, urging council to let staff explore alternative funding tools.
Police Chief Sean Conley said his department already has an externally funded workload-assessment study in the FY budget that will analyze mission-level needs and let leaders design staffing and support changes that move officers from administrative tasks to more community engagement. “Workload assessment…will come back with data to show where we can free up 25–30% of officer time for community policing,” Conley said.
Why it matters: Both departments highlighted personnel as the primary, ongoing cost driver. Chiefs also flagged capital and technology needs: updated fire stations (including a proposed Station 7 site that could be co-located with other uses), completion of the training center, and a regional operations/analytics center (referred to by staff as an integrated regional operations center) to aggregate data from body-worn cameras, records systems and other sensors.
Council discussion: Several council members said they support investigating options and emphasized careful design and public outreach if a voter measure or new tax is proposed. Council Member Aslan urged the city to create a strong, clear package so voters can make an informed decision; other members reiterated the need to link any new revenue to visible improvements and to protect operating reserves.
Staff response and next steps: City staff told council they will research a range of options — including sales-tax or other voter-approved measures, reallocation of select fees, and targeted bonds for capital — and prepare analyses of legal constraints, fiscal impacts and messaging. Conley noted the city has budgeted funds to hire an outside analyst to do a workload assessment for police; Gaillard said the fire department has internal analyses and would participate in a consolidated review.
No formal policy change or vote occurred; council provided direction to study funding strategies and return with options and cost estimates.
