Police and fire budgets shift as SRO reimbursements rise and EMS/supplies costs climb

Police and fire department leaders described operational-budget changes and program requests during the council budget workshop, telling council that reimbursements and changing costs are reshaping their requests.

Chief Crosby reported the police department is projecting a roughly 24% decrease in its operations ask compared with last full fiscal year and said the city expects substantial reimbursements for school resource officers (SROs): two elementary SROs are 100% state-funded and the middle-school SRO is 60% funded by Fort Mill School District. Crosby said reimbursements cover salary, benefits and some equipment; beyond salary reimbursements, he estimated roughly $2,425,000 in recoverable costs across uniforming, gas, training and software over time.

Crosby also outlined a proposed community program, Project Lifesaver, to provide wearable radio bands for vulnerable residents and said initial equipment/startup costs are included in the PD request. He described it as voluntary and said it can drastically reduce search resources in missing-person cases.

Fire leadership explained travel and training requests (some offset by grants), a sharp rise in fuel prices and increasing EMS-supply costs such as AED batteries and medication; the fire chief noted the department's 1,000‑gallon storage tank has helped buffer price swings and that seasonal boat operations increase fuel use in summer.

Council asked for detailed spreadsheets and vendor quotes where appropriate; staff said department spreadsheets were uploaded for review and that they would re-upload revised general-fund numbers before the next meeting.