By Kiera Hay
Albuquerque Journal
Santa Fe police officers living outside the city’s limits commute an average of 1.3 million miles to work each year on the municipality’s dime, according to a report presented Tuesday to city officials. Nearly 50 live far enough away that the round-trip commute is at least 99 miles. Four officers live in Las Vegas, N.M. and travel about 120 miles to and from work each day, putting an average of just over 24,000 miles on their patrol cars annually. Altogether, just over 150 members of the police force take advantage of a city policy that allows them to take their “company cars” home.
Around 84 officers commute at least 9 miles. Another 68 Santa Fe-based officers also take their cars home, but no mileage numbers were provided for them. Deputy Police Chief Robin Contreras said the work life of most police cars generally ends between 85,000 and 100,000 miles, although Santa Fe does maintain a handful of cars with mileages above that. Santa Fe’s typical police car, a Chevy Impala, costs around $35,000. The cost of gas and basic maintenance for commuting cars amounts to around $130,819 annually, according to the report.
The city instituted a policy in 2003 allowing police officers to use their cars for commutes of up to 60 miles one way, in part as a way to help Santa Fe compete for officers who might otherwise be inclined to join police forces in cities such as Rio Rancho, where many live because of the lower cost of living.
Tuesday’s report, written by Deputy Police Chief Abram Anaya, said the incentive has a “profound impact on recruiting and retention.” “I do not feel that the cost savings (which would be minimal) of eliminating this program is worth the destructive impact on morale within the department and the possibility of losing a large number of seasoned veteran officers to other agencies,” Anaya wrote.
Councilors didn’t appear too concerned about the policy. Discussion on the subject centered more on how to get officers to put down roots in the City Different through affordable housing efforts.
“We’ve got to try and help the police here in Santa Fe. My friends in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque say, ‘I feel safe because I’ve got a Santa Fe police officer next door to me’,” Councilor Ron Trujillo said. The information was presented in a five-hour budget hearing during which councilors heard proposed budgets for city departments including police, fire, land use, housing and community development and municipal court. Officials made no major decisions on how best to cover the rest of a $9.4 million shortfall anticipated for the next fiscal year. Councilors agreed last week to $7 million in budget-cutting measures such as holding off on filling some vacant city jobs, increasing storm water fees and asking the city’s water division to pay the general fund $3 million from an old loan.
But many at City Hall believe the council will have to make tougher choices when it comes to closing the rest of the gap. Options include employee pay cuts or furloughs, an increase in property or gross receipts taxes or using the city’s cash reserves. Reducing the city’s massive employee insurance costs may be another possibility, although how that would work, and what it would mean for city workers, remains unclear. Santa Fe is looking at a 10.4 percent, or $1.6 million, spike in the cost of its health insurance next year. Human resources manager Vicki Gage said negotiations are under way with union officials over increasing employee co-pays for emergency room services and brand-name medications. Santa Fe employees use the emergency room 70 percent more than other groups within United Healthcare, presumably because of an inexpensive $25 co-pay, city manager Robert Romero said.
The Finance Committee will continue budget hearings at 4 p.m. May 17.
Copyright 2010 Albuquerque Journal