Every four years, Leavenworth city officials are faced with the task of renegotiating a new contract with the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement in the city. For many on the city council, this will be a new, challenging experience.
For Mayor Cheri Kelley Farivar, City Administrator Joel Walinski, Councilman Rich Brinkman, Councilman Elmer Larsen and Councilwoman Carolyn Wilson, they know only too well the difficulties that lie ahead.
At the June 6 city council study session, Walinski tried to spell out for the new council members, the issues with the sheriff’s contract. To pay for public safety, the city uses the property tax and the 1 percent public safety sales tax. With a proposed 3.4 percent increase in the contract, the city falls short.
“We put those two pieces together, at this point in time, we’re about $20,000 short. If we look at sales tax growth, 3.6 percent since 2009. The brighter spot is an 8.4 percent increase in the last three years, which is really good,” Walinski said. “As you can see, there is a gap. We never get there. That is the unsustainable part of the sheriff’s contract.”
One of the questions that come about, he said, is the difference in costs for a city resident compared to a county resident. Both residents ($250,000 home) are paying the same amount in county property tax, $345.77. That goes for all county services except roads.
“We take all the other service charges incorporated into public safety that the city actually spends, which is residents and commercial businesses,” Walinski said. “$537 for the sheriff’s contract, $62 for Rivercom, $33 for the jail, $12 for attorney, emergency management. You break that down on a per resident basis ...$674 for year.”
This does not include the extra request for police services or the school resource officer, he said. The $674 is a cost divided per resident, although each resident does not pay that. It is per household.
“If this city were to dis-incorporate, and become Peshastin, we would be paying $345.77 for precisely the same service that we’re paying $674 for,” Farivar said. “It’s difficult to get this across. Certainly impossible to get it across to the county. Elmer, Joel and I have tried mightily for years to make them understand this concept. Of course, they won’t because it doesn’t serve them. Our residents don’t understand that.”
Councilwoman Mia Bretz asked if the city gets more police services that Peshastin.
“Yes, Sergeant Long does spend more time here than other places. I’m not sure it is an overwhelming amount. I think he does an excellent job, in terms of responding if we have a request, like a speed control on Pine Street or West Street,” Walinski said. “When we ask him to look at stop signs and monitor what is going on. He sits out there and does it. My question would be, if I was living in Peshastin and asked those same questions, would the sheriff’s office respond to the same things. I believe they would.”
So there are more officers here?, Bretz asked.
“The only reason there might be more officers here more frequently is because of their office at the fire hall. The truth is that is their hub. If they say you have more officers in your city limits at a given time, it’s because they are doing the work in the office,” Farivar said.
Walinski told the council to think of the sheriff’s contract like you were purchasing a Hummer.
“They do a very good at what they do. They have a patrol, detectives, school resource officers, traffic enforcement, SWAT, K9, marine patrol, air services,” Walinski said. “They do have lots of resources. They have a big area to cover. They have a lot of different issues. Nonetheless, part of the thing that is driving the cost we pay for services is that we’re buying the Hummer.”
Farivar said the city does not need all those services. Walinski said it is very good to have all those services.
“I’m not saying these things are not being used. If you look at the police reports, the SWAT team has been called out. Search and Rescue. Marine Patrol. It’s a very good thing that supports what we do,” Walinski said. “I’m just saying that one of the things that is driving the cost for our services is we’re buying the full meal deal.”
The contract is based on a calculation, Walinski said, of $177,184 per officer. Three officers are assigned to Leavenworth. Farivar said the way they come up with that calculation is by taking all the costs, administrative, equipment, personnel, divided by the workforce.
“Not quite everything, but definitely all their admin costs, vehicle costs, equipment, communications. I think I’m paying extra for Rivercom. My county taxes go toward Rivercom,” Walinski said. “There’s a big piece and it just has to do with the way police departments are run. Lots of records that go into tracking. There’s also a fairly expensive investigation piece which makes up the Hummer.”
The city pays an extra $40,000 per year for special events and a school resource officer, he said. Several years back, the city looked into starting their own police department, but it was found to be cost prohibitive.
“If you start saying why don’t we start our own thing... if you’re idea is to have an operation similar to the sheriff. You’re going to have 24/7 police response. You’re going to need 5.2 officers, averaging about $75,000 per year,” Walinski said. “You’re going to need records, evidence holding area. I want people to be aware public safety/liability insurance. That is the highest area of increased cost, especially over the last four or five years. That is the nature of our society that we’re holding police accountable to a higher degree.”
Having worked with police chiefs and police departments in other cities, Walinski said there is constant pressure to add technology, training and special use equipment.
“There’s always a new gismo to put in the 40 cars at $20,000 per pop. Some of those things are good, like when they updated the computers in the cars. That is good. The sheriff’s department in terms of how it provides service with individual officers in remote locations... they need that equipment. I’m not arguing against that. They do need that,” Walinski said. “Think about if you are going to run your own department on the 1.3 miles square area, your equipment would be different. Your focus would be different.”
The other piece, he said, is unions and civil service requirements. The city, by law, must appoint a chief law enforcement officer. Right now, that is the sheriff.
“Even if we didn’t have a contract with the sheriff. The sheriff would still have a general duty to enforce the laws within the city. What would not be enforced is the Leavenworth Municipal Code, misdemeanors, parking violations, noise violations, shoplifting. Those types of things. Petty crimes would not be enforced,” he said.
Farivar asked if the city did not have a contract, would it still be protected just like anywhere else in the county? Walinski said, “Theoretically.”
“If we dis-incorporated, we would be covered like any other area of the county. Do we have to dis-incorporate to accomplish that? What if we just protested and did not sign the sheriff contract? We just say we expect you to protect the city residents just like the county residents,” Farivar said.
Councilman Elmer Larsen said this is very frustrating for him.
“We are so small, yet we are funding protection for East Leavenworth, Icicle, Chumstick. That is not ours, yet we are paying for it. We’re very close to what Chelan pays. They have population in the area that they are funding. Cashmere is half what we pay, yet they have 1,000 more people. If this was going to be equitable, it should include the surrounding area,” Larsen said. “Property tax used to cover all of the sheriff. They make up a contract and send it out. It is very frustrating. There is no leverage to bring them to the table. Last time, we had some compromise.”
The amount of $177,184 per for three officers is the base, Walinski said.
“That is not negotiable. That number does not move. They feel they’ve come up with a way to justify and calculate the cost of an officer. They say Leavenworth needs three officers, so you’re going to pay for three,” Walinski said.
Walinski said Sheriff Brian Burnett has been invited to the next study session. Farivar said the council should be prepared to ask some questions.
“Six years ago, we had this discussion... we want to go into negotiations like you did, if we don’t reach negotiations that are palatable, we want to explore forming our own police department,” Farivar said. “We had a study. We can show you that. We did a study with the city of Cashmere.”
Ultimately, Farivar said, they found starting their own police department was cost prohibitive.
“Cashmere decided to opt out of the typical coverage. They had abbreviated coverage. They don’t have quite the police presence than they had previously. The city council in Cashmere said they see no difference,” Farivar said.
Making such a change has it’s own built-in issues, Farivar said. This is not something to be done easily or quickly. You can’t do that as a test, she said. Once you’ve invested the time and money, the city is committed, at least for while.
Farivar said she would expect a lot of push back from the Chelan County Commissioners and the Sheriff’s Office.
“I would expect a lot of push back on this idea in the form of, we’re not backing you. The unwritten message would be, you guys are on your own. You made a stupid decision, now live with it. This is kind of what they said to us last time,” Farivar said. “ I think we would get push back. I don’t think they would threaten to leave us in the cold. I do believe it would become an attitude.”
Larsen said it has been take-it-or-leave-it from the beginning. Farivar said they never suggested this was a negotiation. Brinkman told the newer members of the council that council frustration with the contract goes back a long ways.
Farivar said she really wants the council to consider the Cashmere option.
“Chelan had their own police department with the holding cells and everything. They were spending $1 million for their own department. They went with a sheriff’s contract and now they’re back where they were before,” Larsen said. “I don’t think they looked at Pacific Security or anything like that. They have the marine requirement and a large area.”
Bretz said she likes the services provided by the county.
“It works county wide, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense for a tiny town with very few people paying for the county as a whole. How many numbers live in the city limits and how many live just outside the city limits are getting the same coverage, but don’t pay the same?,” Bretz said.
The 2014 monthly report shows the incident numbers from inside the city and from outside the city, Walinski said.
“That number was typically higher in Leavenworth than the surrounding area. Over time, since 2014, I believe that number has shifted. Now, 52 percent the calls are to areas outside the city.
I believe there is more activity in the county,” Walinski said.
Farivar said she will get information on the contract with Cashmere. Walinski said he will make some calls to other cities too.
“The sheriff has said Leavenworth is unique because you have so many visitors. Your population is not relevant to this equation,” Farivar said.
Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.
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