Inside the past month, the Mobile City Council on the behalf of the city’s police department, has applied for just under $3 million in federal grants for the hiring of 20 full-time police officers and other non-sworn civilian personnel. The money to pay for these positions is coming through the federal stimulus package and is good for two years.

While the money to hire 20 new sworn officers – $2,464,804,00 – is expected to further expand the police force, and the grant money used to hire non-sworn officers – $469,721.62 – is expected to further extend the crime prevention capabilities of sworn officers, some are concerned about paying for these positions after the two years of funding ends.

At both the April 14 and April 21 weekly city council meetings, District 6 councilwoman Connie Hudson expressed concern over paying salaries for these positions once federal funding ends. The nearly $2.5 million going toward the hiring of 20 sworn positions would require a one-year post-grant employment commitment from the city. The non-sworn positions require no commitment from the city thereafter.

Police Chief Philip Garrett says this is a much-needed jumpstart to a plan he’s been working on since he assumed his current post.

“You have to make a decision. You have to decide whether you’re going to go after this and increase your numbers or not. It has been the goal of the mayor and myself to increase our police force to that 600 number at some point,” Garrett said. “For the state of Alabama, we do more with less. Quite frankly, I was going to ask for them (the 20 positions) anyway.”

With the current number of sworn officers hovering right around 565, Garrett says these 20 additional positions will obviously get the force considerably closer to its goal.

“I think we need 600. We need to be close to that 600 number to get to where we can fill the holes and do some of the proactive things that help us as well,” Garrett speculates.

Among proactive measures these positions could potentially allow, Garrett lists adding investigators to units in need, more involvement in community programs and a general “beef-up” of particular areas.

“I’d take 1,000 if you give ’em to me,” Garrett added.

And, Hudson would give Garrett 1,000 if she thought the city of Mobile could afford it.

“I’m willing to go forward because it’s public safety. Public safety is our number one priority. If it wasn’t public safety I’d likely not be on board with this,” Hudson said.

“How do we sustain these hirings?” Hudson asks. “The administration hasn’t provided any real clear cut answer. I think they’re just going to wait it out and see.”

Al Stokes, Mayor Jones’ chief of staff says attrition will likely take care of the hirings in a worst-case scenario. Hudson says attrition is “not the answer either.”

Hudson says in response to Stokes’ attrition solution, that layoffs could result.

“That’s not realistic. You can’t train people and then fire them after two years,” Hudson said. “Depending on the economy right now to solve any of these issues is risky, too. The city needs to be cautious of other stimulus spending. I think we might have to cut other parts of the budget.”

The second application for non-sworn employees came during a meeting where City finance director Barbara Malkove offered caution in regards to council’s spending habits.

“Sales tax revenues are under budget by $4.8 million in the general fund. Total general fund revenues are under budget by $6.2 million. I am compelled to provide a word of caution as to current and future expenditures,” Malkove said.

“While general fund budgeted expenditures for the first six months of the 2008-09 fiscal year are under budget by $12.6 million, we need to restrict future expenditures until the current economic conditions improve. The caution I am offering is based on the City of Mobile Act’s balanced budget provisions. Also if we have deficits, it will place an additional burden on next year’s budget as the balance is carried forward. This year’s budget brought forward as part of the revenues approximately $7 million which will probably get us through this fiscal year but it is doubtful that we will have any funds to carry forward into next year,” she added.

The impact of potentially mounting deficits, Malkove noted, is a severe strain on next year’s budget.

“This is true also for the capital funds. Revenues are under budget so that some projects may not be started until funds may be appropriated in the next year’s budget. Some projects may have to be postponed,” she said.

One solution the finance director offered affirms one of Hudson’s predictions.

“Unless the current economic climate changes dramatically, I may be compelled to recommend budget cuts in certain categories of expenditures and projects,” Malkove said. “Believe me; we will be analyzing each month’s receipts and expenditures carefully to make sure we stay within our budget.”

Garrett says he expects to hear back on the sworn officer grants within the next 60 to 90 days. He also informed Lagniappe that there are “one or two (grants) that we haven’t applied for yet.”