Aurora expects increased revenue from policing

In early discussions of Aurora's 2011 budget, the police department jumped to the forefront.

Aldermen on the finance committee of the city council reviewed the police department's ratio of personnel costs to operating costs and ways to increase revenue from police activities at a meeting Tuesday afternoon.

Spending on police about $53 million is part of a 2011 budget that includes $340 million in expenditures, a decrease of $1.1 million from the 2010 budget, Chief Management Officer Carie Anne Ergo said.

Police Chief Greg Thomas said the department will spend about $50 million on salaries and benefits for employees and $3.3 million on other operating expenses under the proposed 2011 budget. That means about 94 percent of the police department's budget pays for personnel, while the other 6 percent funds items such as new patrol vehicles and new camera equipment for photographing evidence.

“Last year was bad and this year is worse,” Thomas said. “We have a budget that's very bare bones.”

Police are requesting increased funding compared to last year's budget for four items, including holding additional trials for red-light camera violators and training officers to analyze fingerprints.

With another red-light camera at Ogden Avenue and Eola Road slated to go live Sunday, the city expects more violations will need trials. Paying an additional $12,000 in 2011 for a hearing officer, interpreters and other aspects of the red-light camera program's expansion will help the city generate an expected

$25,000 in new revenue, Thomas said.

“It's a minor expense to support that,” Alderman Lynda Elmore said.

The city plans to begin prosecuting DUI offenders at the branch court inside the new police headquarters next year, which could net as much as $800,000 in revenue, Chief Management Officer Carie Anne Ergo said. The city also will gain revenue from training an officer to determine whether a substance is marijuana and implementing an administrative fee for booking prisoners, Ergo said.

These revenue-generating ideas were brought to the city's attention by the Association of Professional Police Officers during a negotiating session with the city about concessions to fill a budget gap.

The union, which represents patrol officers, did not agree to concessions. The city offset the lack of concessions by laying off eight officers, Ergo said. But the budget assumes other unions will make concessions to avoid layoffs, she said.

Aldermen will continue reviewing the budget with city staff at 2 p.m. Monday at City Hall.