FY 18 Annual Report

Police Department CITY OF SPENCER, IOWA

2018

Departmental Highlights

The Spencer Police Department serves and protects the citizens and the community. With a sworn police force of 19 officers, including the Chief, the Department provides 24 hour protection. In addition to protecting the community, the Department does traffic enforcement, safety demonstrations, participates in the annual school bike rodeo, case investigation, security at various community functions and the Clay County Fair and participates in the School Resource Officer with the Spencer School District. FY 18 saw the departure of three officers, while at the same time welcoming four new officers to the department. Due to the length of time it takes to go through the hiring process, each vacancy creates about a three to four month period where the department is short staffed. Many times, a new officer will not be certified as an Iowa Law Enforcement Officer and the city will send them to the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy. This is a 16 week course that provides the necessary training for state certification. The general cost to the City for every employee sent through the Academy is approximately $7,700 plus the employees salary. The City enters into a contract with all new employees that need to go thorough the Academy for reimbursement of expense should the employee terminate employment prior to serving for four years upon graduation. Capital expenditures for the department in FY 18 included the purchase of two new Ford Explorer vehicles, new ballistic helmets for the officers, installation of a camera in the interview room, replacement of a vehicle mounted camera, and the purchase of a snow plow for parking lot maintenance. The snow plow purchase was shared between the department and the street department.

Budget Review

Total expenditures for the department were $1,871,966.86 for FY18, an decrease of $42,692.64 (-2.23%) over FY 17. The overall decrease was because of fewer expenditures in the general operations of the department, the Drug Education fund as well as decreased pension payments of the department. The general operations of the department were lower because of decreased spending on salaries, contractual services and commodities. The Department saw fewer staff departures in FY 18, causing the lower payout in salaries than occurred in FY 17. Pension payments for the department totaled $309.571.46 for FY 18, a decrease of 4.5% over FY 17. The City pays into the IPERS and the Municipal Fire Police Retirement System of Iowa (MFPRSI) for the department. The Executive Secretary is an IPERS member, while

all sworn personnel are members of the MFPRSI system. The Department expended 98.92% of its overall budget.

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