Public safety was discussed during a recent Crestwood Board of Aldermen work session as city officials continue to look for ways to reduce expenditures and enhance revenue to help restore the financial health of the city’s general fund.

City staff and six aldermen discussed the city’s Police and Fire departments during the nearly 2.5-hour work session that took place June 29.

The combined budgets of the two departments total $5,688,452 — 62.4 percent of annual general fund operating costs.

For the work session, city staff had formulated a number of options for aldermen to consider regarding the operation of the Police and Fire departments.

In response to a question from Acting Mayor Richard Breeding, City Administrator Don Greer emphasized that the options formulated by city staff were not recommendations.

“No, these aren’t recommendations,” Greer said. “What I’m trying to do is get us talking about some things. The core issue really is are we all on the same page that basically says we’re going to have to reduce our operating costs? I hope that we’re already to that point and if we are then, as I’ve mentioned to you on a number of occasions, the thing that we have to look at is our services … There is no discretionary money in our operating budget today … The lack of that discretionary money has pretty much put everyone to what it takes to operate. There’s just (no) fat left and if we’re going to reduce it further, it’s going to take more than the paper clips and writing on both sides of the paper to do it. We’re going to have to really address some issues here.

“What I’m trying to do is give you just a walk-through of the services, some of the things that we have looked at and hopefully by the time we’re all done, I’m looking for some guidance as to what directions you’re willing to take a look at or maybe you’ve got your own. But these are some of the things that we’ve looked at, compared ourselves to some other cities, to some other service areas and we’re just trying, all we’re trying to do is stimulate some conversation to get some direction as to what the board might be willing to pursue …,” he added.

Of the options presented by Greer, aldermen indicated they wanted additional information about the city’s Fire Department implementing its own ambulance service and replacing the city’s existing quarter-cent, local-option sales tax with a quarter-cent Community Improvement District sales tax that would not have to be shared with St. Louis County. Legislation allowing the city to impose a Community Improvement District sales tax, with voter approval, is awaiting Gov. Bob Holden’s signature, Assistant to the City Administrator Matt Conley told the board.

A city-operated ambulance could generate more than $208,000 annually, while a Community Improvement District sales tax could generate an additional $131,000 in revenue while the city’s sales-tax rate would remain unchanged.

Other options presented by Greer that aldermen were less enthusiastic about included eliminating the city’s police dispatching services and joining the East Central Dispatching Consortium, contracting for police protection with the St. Louis County Police Department and further reducing the number of public safety employees.

In 2001, the Police Department had 45 employees; today it has 40, Greer noted.

At one point, Fire Chief Karl Kestler noted the number of Fire Department employees has not increased since 1975 — the only city department not to add staff. The department currently has 28 employees, though one is on extended sick leave. That position and another position are planned to be reduced through attrition at some point.

In a June 29 memorandum to Greer, Conley noted that Crestwood’s Fire Department “relies on a private, not-for-profit ambulance company, Abbott Ambulance, to transport EMS patients to the hospital. Abbott, in turn, seeks reimbursement from the patient’s insurance carrier and/or Medicare/Medicaid to cover the cost of the transport.”

But Conley also noted, “Abbott Ambulance is currently in the process of being bought out by MTM, a for-profit private medical transport firm. It is likely that MTM will be more aggressive in its recoupment of transport costs to reflect its status as a for-profit company. Therefore, it may be time for Crestwood to consider taking on this service and ensure that our residents receive an even higher level of service at the same or even a reduced direct cost.”

While an ambulance would cost about $95,000 and need to be replaced every four or five years, the city’s Fire Department has the staff in place to operate it.

During the work session, Greer said about Abbott Ambulance, “They’re selling their contract and it’s going to be a for-profit (company) and I feel from not-for-profit to profit, you know there’s going to be some cost increases involved, and, in all candor, potentially some reduction in services because they are for profit …”

Both Conley and Greer compared the public safety services Crestwood offers to those provided by Richmond Heights, a very similar city. For example, Richmond Heights currently has 24 firefighters, while Crestwood has 28 firefighters.

“… Richmond Heights responds (with) one pumper and they also operate an ambulance, where in our case, we operate two rescue pumpers, two fully staffed rescue pumpers. It’s based upon a certain response criteria that we adopted, actually years ago, and continue to do the rescue pumper concept. We’ve essentially got one pumper that is able to respond and attack the fire and then we’ve got the second one that’s arriving at the same time or shortly thereafter. It’s preparing the scene, laying hose, doing a lot of the safety work …, Greer said.

In his memo, Conley wrote, “The elimination of one of the department’s two engine companies would save the city approximately $500,000 in annual personnel costs.”

Greer said he took “a very rough look” at adopting the same type of response that Richmond Heights provides, but he noted such a decision could impact the city’s Insurance Services Office rating, which currently is a 4, but could go to a five if an engine company is eliminated.

“Class 4 to a Class 5 ISO rating should have little or no impact on a residential property owner,” Conley wrote. “However, it may have some impact on a commercial property owner’s insurance premium.”

Greer said, “… On the cost side, it looks like there’s about a $500,000-plus shift in the general fund. I mean that’s a gain to the general fund. By operating an ambulance, we could run that at a profit and we already have nine firefighter paramedics, enough to staff an ambulance.”

As initially discussed, residents’ insurance carriers would be billed for ambulance transport and there would be no additional costs to residents. A set fee would be established for non-residents.