Yuba City Police Department Chief Brian Baker presents a mid-year budget assessment for the department at the Feb. 20 Yuba City Council meeting.

YUBA CITY, CA (MPG) - Combined mid-year Yuba City budget adjustments for police and fire public safety total more than one million dollars.

Both Yuba City Police Chief Brian Baker and Fire Chief Jesse Alexander presented their requests Feb. 20 to the mayor and council, with law enforcement requesting more than $200,000, and the fire department asking for nearly one million dollars.

Yuba City Fire Department Jesse Alexander explains to city officials additional mid-year budget expenditures mostly related to workers compensation and family leave reasons.

While the last few years' end-of-ear actual budget totals were closer to assumed, Alexander said, it is not the case now with this year's projected amount at $1,947,676 instead of $972,610.

"Unfortunately, it is a significant difference from the budgeted amount," Alexander said, adding the department is "partially in this situation" due to industrial disability injuries, known as workers compensation, and the Family and Medical Leave Act in the fiscal year of 2023-2024.

According to the fire chief, for the first six months of the fiscal year, up to 10 employees are collecting some compensation. Backfilling 10 workers' compensation positions cost $420,204, and Family and Medical Leave Act costs $91,474 for eight employees. Bottomline, the department needs $1,927,067 in total to maintain compliance with the department's overtime budget account. 

Alexander said officials could also choose from the alternatives to modify the recommended salary savings from the General Fund account or direct staff to pursue other options for maintaining budget requirements.

Baker explained how the Police Department's mid-year budget requests pertain to infrastructure and technology upgrades.

Yuba City Mayor Shon Harris and Yuba City Council at the Feb. 20 meeting, where they approved more than $1 million for the mid-year public safety budget assessment.

"We have utilized mass storage devices, USBs, and going back in time DVDs," Chief Baker said. "We are having issues with those devices failing, and we are having problems finding ways to store the mass amounts of digital evidence we recover from many of our investigations."

Another needed technology upgrade is the Police Department's contract with Axon, a cloud storage system enhancement totaling $68,500.

"The purchase will give us three years of unlimited digital storage and it will also allow members of the community to go out to the crime. If we need to capture video surveillance, we can give them a link and they can upload it to the system, and it is a good resource overall for the department," Baker said.

The Cellebrite Phone Analyzer is also becoming obsolete, according to the police chief, noting the new device that costs $32,000 will save staff time processing information.

"This processing device is faster. Many times, we have up to 10 to 15 cell phones that need to be processed for cases that they are working," said Baker, adding the department signed a four-year contract that offered a significant discount. 

Facility repairs for the Police Department roof and flooring are just more than $100,000, beginning with the ceiling, which takes up much of the maintenance team's time, according to the police chief.

"A few weeks ago, we had rain leaking down the wall into the interior wall of one of the offices," Baker said.

Additionally, the Police Department requests $70,000 to purchase an elastomeric system for the roof used by other city building officials that has potential cost savings in the summer since it reflects heat.

The Police Department's flooring is also comprised, according to the police chief: "There is some significant cracking that is occurring."

"Maintenance has identified that some of the non-slip surfaces are worn away, so they are recommending we apply a polyurea coating to address those issues," Baker said, adding the cost of $36,000.

The good news is the money for infrastructure and technology upgrades is already there, according to the police chief.

"We are not asking for any additional funds; we have money in our budget from allocated salary savings due to vacancies, so it will basically be an overspend for our facilities maintenance and our investigations technology budget," Baker said.

Even better news was that both facility maintenance issues went out to bid here in Yuba City.

"They have obtained quotes from all local vendors, so that will be money being spent with vendors here," Baker said.

Mayor Shon Harris and the Yuba City Council voted unanimously to approve all public safety requests.