.
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town
Manager
SUBJECT: Proposed Regular School Resource Officers
DATE: April
12, 2000
In the preliminary report to the Council on the development
of the budget, the costs and revenues associated with the School Resource
Officer program were not included. At
the time of the report, no determination had been made regarding continuation
of the program or the sources of funds needed to cover the $220,000 cost of the
program.
Since the Council’s discussion on March 29, the Town
Manager and Superintendent of Schools Neil Pederson have discussed the issue
and have agreed to recommend that the cost of the program be shared equally by
their respective units, which would result in a cost of $110,000 for the school
system and for the Town. Discussion of
funding in future years would continue. If the Council wishes to pursue this
plan, we believe that we could cover the Town’s $110,00 share of these costs
with the following two adjustments based on our latest review of overall
revenue and expenditure estimates:
·
Based
on information now available and receipt of the 3rd quarter revenues
from the Utility Franchise tax, we believe we can increase our estimate of
revenue from this source by about $60,000 over our earlier projection (from
$1,717,000 to $1,777,000).
·
In
our review of funding sources available for the capital improvements program
next year, we have determined that an additional $50,000 from accumulated
interest earnings in the Capital Reserve Fund over the past several years is
unallocated and available for capital improvements. This would allow a reduction of $50,000 in the proposed General
Fund transfer necessary next year for capital improvements.
We recommend these two adjustments totaling $110,000
for the Council’s consideration if the Council wishes to cover the Town’s cost
of this program next year.
In
January of 1995 the Police Department agreed to provide one full-time officer
to Chapel Hill High School. The cost of
this officer was shared by the school and the Town. Beginning in the 1996-97 academic year the school system
contracted with the Town to provide one officer at each high school for the school
year. The contract stipulated that the
school pay the Town $25,400 for each officer.
This represented approximately one-half of the total cost of the
officers’ salary and benefits.
In
May of 1998 the Town applied for and received a community policing (COPS) grant
from the U. S. Department of Justice.
The grant provided $262,500 to pay for seventy-five percent of the
salaries and benefits for three full-time community police officers. School officials expressed a desire to have
officers in the middle schools and high schools. We agreed to place the three community police officers from the
1998 COPS grant in the schools as School Resource Officers on a twelve-month
basis. In return CHCCS agreed to pay
the grant’s local match of approximately $40,000. Also, CHCCS agreed to continue paying $25,400 toward the cost of
the fourth School Resource Officer (SRO) not provided by the grant.
The
SRO’s provide numerous services for the schools. They provide security in the halls during class changes. They patrol the campus before and after
school and during the lunch periods.
Some direct traffic in the parking lots. SRO’s have taught classes, served on counseling and peer mediation
teams, served as club advisors, developed safety plans for the schools, and
participated in many extracurricular activities such as field trips and school
dances. Also, SRO’s have assisted
school staff in managing disciplinary issues ranging from policy violations to
criminal offenses.