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Council unanimously authorized staff to apply for federal assistance in funding two potential new Police Officer positions. The Department of Justice just approved our grant application as follows: one Police Officer position is approved, not the two requested; the Officer approved under the grant is to perform domestic violence and other problem-solving work for the Police Department; and the Council must approve or reject the grant by November 13. Scenario D on the attached spreadsheet includes this new position and assumes you accept the federal grant. As demonstrated on the attached spreadsheet, we would have to forgo other spending to pay the City's part of the costs for this new Police Officer position. As you consider this potential new tax-supported position, please do not view this position through the lens of just one budget year. Yes, under the grant the federal government would assist in financing approximately half of the cost for this position for three years. (Precisely, the federal government would fund $30,000, $25,000, and $20,000 of the position costs over the next three years; the City, therefore, would have to pay with tax levy dollars approximately $20,000, $25,000, and $30,000 over the next three years to support this new position, and $50,000 to $55,000 thereafter. These numbers include FICA and benefits as well as inflation over the next three years.) As with other 'Clinton Cops,' I anticipate the position will be with us forever. So I encourage you to accept the grant and create the position but only if you are willing to partially fund the new position with city tax levy dollars for three years and then fund the position entirely with city tax dollars after the three-year federal grant assistance expires. FINAL COMMENTS As you continue to reflect on the 2006 budget, I need to remind you of what is on the horizon for the 2007 budget year. I don't have a crystal ball, but I think most private and public businesses expect health care and energy costs to continue to increase in price at a rate much higher than the general inflation rate. Since health care and energy costs are such a big expense for us as a city, that means we are looking at another difficult city budget in 2007. - Furthermore, no one is budgeting for significant reductions in other operating costs or increases in non-tax revenues that might off-set the extraordinary increases in health care and energy costs affecting our tax-supported (and fee-supported) programs. Remember that we have permanently cut hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs = from the budget over the last four years, including three full-time, tax-supported -: positions. -� -