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Home My WebLink AboutStaff Report 2408-3392CITY OF PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL Special Meeting Monday, October 28, 2024 Council Chambers & Hybrid 5:30 PM Agenda Item 3.Approval of the Acceptance of State of California Citizens Options for Public Safety (COPS) Funds of $204,005 and a Budget Amendment in the Supplemental Law Enforcement Services Fund (2/3 vote required) for front-line law enforcement expenses; CEQA status – not a project. City Council Staff Report From: City Manager Report Type: CONSENT CALENDAR Lead Department: Police Meeting Date: October 28, 2024 Report #:2408-3392 TITLE Approval of the Acceptance of State of California Citizens Options for Public Safety (COPS) Funds of $204,005 and a Budget Amendment in the Supplemental Law Enforcement Services Fund (2/3 vote required) for front-line law enforcement expenses; CEQA status – not a project. RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends that the City Council: 1. Approve the acceptance of annual Citizens Options for Public Safety (COPS) funds from State of California, totaling $204,005; and 2. Amend the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Appropriation (requires 2/3 approval) for the Supplemental Law Enforcement Services (SLES) Fund by: a. Increasing the estimate for revenue from the State of California by $204,005; b. Increasing Police Department expense appropriation for Supplies and Materials by $52,000; for Facilities and Equipment by $135,000; for Contract Services by $80,000; and c. Decreasing the ending fund balance by $62,995. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Staff recommends that the City Council approve the acceptance of the annual State of California COPS FY 2025 funds, totaling $204,005 and amend the budget appropriation in the SLES Fund to spend the revenues. Staff also recommends appropriating unspent funding from previous years of $62,995. This funding went into the fund balance at the close of the previous fiscal years to be used for other eligible expenses. In total, $267,000 is recommended for supplies and materials, noncapitalized tools, and programs and services related to front-line law enforcement. BACKGROUND Every year since 1997, the State of California, by statute, allocates designated funds to counties, which pass funding through to cities, through a Citizens Options for Public Safety (COPS) program. This ongoing program is apportioned by a State statute and the level of funding is relative to the population as determined by the California Department of Finance. This funding is not related to the Federal Government Department of Justice “COPS” program with the same acronym. State law provides for four main requirements as written in Government Code sections 30025- 30029.12 and 30051-30063: 1) Each recipient (County and a City) is required to deposit the revenue into a separate fund so the funds are not co-mingled with the General Fund (Sec. 30063); and 2) the money shall be used for front line law enforcement services or municipal police services (Sec. 30061(c)(2)); and transfer to other funds is allowed provided it is to facilitate the use according to the code (Sec. 30063); and 4) the funds shall not supplant the city budget (Sec. 30062(a)). Previous uses of COPS funds have included restarting the Community Service Officer (CSO) program, electronic traffic citation system, equipment upgrades, safety equipment, police training, staff wellness testing, police recruiting, upgrades to patrol vehicles, and upgraded tools and technology, all benefiting front line law enforcement services or municipal police services for the City of Palo Alto. According to State staff, the source of funding is vehicle license fees. Specific allocations are directed by the Department of Finance, in accordance with the Government Code, while the distributions are made by the State Controller’s Office. There are two parts to the distribution: A.A semi-permanent component based on a minimum funding level for the program, paid monthly and; B.A growth component for funds (referred to as Growth Fund) in excess of the minimum base, paid one-time the following year after reconciliation. Staff identified excess fund balance in this SLES fund in FY 2022 and is working to determine appropriate needs and uses for public safety services. Fund balance has accumulated due to higher than estimated revenues from a change in State law that increased funding and because projects or programs previously identified did not require the funding set-aside or did not materialize. Most of those previously planned expenses were for non-mandatory training and recruiting which did not occur due to insufficient backfill staffing to support these while maintaining necessary minimum staffing levels for daily service delivery. The most recent fund balance, $659,000, can be found in the FY 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report1 and an electronic copy of the auditor report on the City’s website2. 1 City Council, January 16, 2024; Agenda Item #5, SR # 2311-2230 https://recordsportal.paloalto.gov/Weblink/DocView.aspx?id=82637 2 City of Palo Alto FY 2022-2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Reporting beginning on pg 113 https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/files/assets/public/v/1/administrative-services/city-budgets/fy-2023-city- budget/fy-2023-annual-comprehensive-financial-report.pdf ANALYSIS The City recently received the annual notice of COPS funding, for distribution in Fiscal Year 2024-2025, of $104,9693). Further, the Growth Fund portion (distribution B above) was reported and funded $99,0364. Staff recommends use of this year’s expected COPS funds, along with a portion of the existing fund balance, for a total amount of $267,000 ($204,005 in revenue and $62,995 in existing fund balance), in the following manner(s) which are compliant with the law. All expenses below are estimated. The Department currently uses a manual system for tracking progress in background investigations of potential police officers and training of existing police officers. This will fund management software for tracking progression as well as alerting to due dates, deadlines, and updated policy. To expand the Wellness Program the department seeks professional services for ongoing Peer Support team training and acute mental health support and diffusing of critical incidents for staff. The Department purchased updated handguns with last years COPS allocation. This year the purchase of training handguns of the same type for use in training settings is recommended. Use of these tools, which fire only non-lethal marking rounds, mitigates the danger inherent in using actual handguns in training settings, and the training handguns will be compatible with current holsters. In recent years, COPS funds provided for the upgrade of certain tools such as respirator masks, body worn cameras, and conductive energy weapons (often referred to by the brand name ”Taser”). Additional funding is recommended to augment the previous purchase of conductive energy weapons as more officers have been hired since the last update and replacement of broken tools. In alignment with law enforcement industry standard, all police officers are outfit with patrol rifles as standard equipment (by practice not policy) following specialized rifle 3 State of California Department of Finance September 12, 2024 pg. 13 https://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD-Payments/copsdofletter_2425.pdf 4 State of California Citizens Option for Public Safety Growth Allocation Report For COPS and Juvenile Justice (FY2023-2024) Spreadsheet, sheet “Front Line City Breakdown”, row 499, column F https://www.sco.ca.gov/ard_payments_cops_growth.html training. Use of rifles is managed by the following policies: 300(all), 312.4.4, 312.4.5, 424.3, 424.7, 432 (all), 716.7, 1004.2, 1004.7.1.5 An inventory sufficient to equip each officer is maintained, the current inventory of rifles is 64, on average, 15-20 years old. Because of the long life of the equipment, funding for replacement typically relies on grant money, such as the COPS grant, and therefore funding is recommended to be used for the replacement of patrol rifles. As standard issue patrol equipment, patrol rifles are not subject to the requirements of AB 481. Traffic Enforcement POLICY IMPLICATIONS FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT 5 Palo Alto Police Department Policy Manual ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW ATTACHMENTS APPROVED BY: