Vallejo Final MSR Adendum

CITY OF VALLEJO Development Services Department Planning Division Building Division Code Enforcement Division 707-648-4326 707-648-4374 707-648-4469 707-552-0163 Fax 707-552-0163 Fax 707-649-3540 Fax 555 SANTA CLARA STREET • P.O. BOX 3056 •VALLEJO • CA •94590-5934 Shaun Pritchard Executive Officer Solano County LAFCO 744 Empire Street, Suite 106 Fairfield, CA 94533 Re: Vallejo Municipal Service Review Dear Shaun: I have reviewed the minutes of the second LAFCo hearing on the Vallejo Municipal Service Review (MSR) where Commissioners expressed concern about the content of the document in light of the City’s current budget struggles. While the budget situation in Vallejo is serious, the following information regarding adopted cuts in our transit service and Police and Fire Department staffing may be helpful in your understanding of how the budget will affect the provision of services in Vallejo. Transit. Approximately 1.25 million dollars was reduced from the bus service budget by reducing service on the least traveled routes. This was accomplished through the elimination of all but three Sunday routes, reduction in one route to only peak periods, elimination of one route entirely, replacement of one local route with a regional route, shutting down service on two routes at 8:00 pm rather than 10:00 pm, and increasing headways on one route from 30 to 60 minutes. As shown on the attached graphic, comprehensive citywide bus service is still available throughout Vallejo. These reductions in operational costs are completely independent of the capital project referenced in the MSR, i.e, the construction of a relocated bus transfer station in the Downtown/Waterfront area near the ferry terminal to better link these two modes of transit. No funding has been cut from that project. Police and Fire. The budgets for police and fire services have also been subject to significant cuts. Funding for seven sworn police officers, along with support staff, administrative, investigative and community service functions and overtime has been reduced or eliminated. These reductions will adversely affect the overall level of police protection services in Vallejo. Although impacts to administration, crime prevention, traffic control, and investigation functions are inevitable, it is anticipated that the Department will attempt to limit the impacts to the patrol division. As such, the department should be able to continue to meet the six minute emergency response times reported in the MSR. However, the statement that additional police officers and police vehicles will have to be added to the force to keep pace with new development also remains true. Funding for 13 firefighters as well as positions in the Fire Prevention Division have also been cut from the budget. The firefighter cuts include the paramedic coordinator and paramedics which means that it will not be possible to have a paramedic on duty at all fire stations on every shift. The changes in the Fire Department paramedic program are not anticipated to affect emergency response times, but will result in a heavier reliance on private ambulance companies for paramedic services as fire trucks on some shifts at some stations may only have EMT capability. Finally, I would like to suggest that the document has been formatted exactly like and has a similar level of detail to other MSR’s provided to the Commission. Our understanding of the primary use of the document will be for the Commission to use in analyzing future annexations. The Commission has very strongly suggested during the Bordoni Ranch annexation review that they would tend to encourage the City to pursue annexation of the unincorporated County islands within our borders. As required by the LAFCo approval of that annexation, Vallejo is currently studying the fiscal impact of such annexations. Obviously, no new annexations could be supported by the City or LAFCo without confirmation that adequate services could be provided for that specific proposal. I hope the information provided above answers the questions raised during your last discussion of this topic. I have also forwarded to you an electronic version of the MSR document should you wish to make amendments to the text. Please contact me at 649- 5458 or bdolan@ci.vallejo.ca.us if you have any additional questions. Sincerely, Brian Dolan Development Services Director Page 2