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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR King

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2-7-06

HB 734

SHORT TITLE

TORRANCE COUNTY COPS IN SCHOOLS

PROGRAM

SB

ANALYST Hadwiger

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$300.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

Public Education Department (PED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 734 appropriates $300 thousand from the general fund to the Local Government Divi-

sion (LGD) of the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) in FY07 for four more Tor-

rance county sheriff’s deputies for the Cops in Schools program.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $300 thousand contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general

fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY07 would revert to

the general fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

DFA reported that, according to the Torrance County Sheriff’s Office, four deputies were hired

in 2001 with funding obtained from the federal Cops in Schools (CIS) program. CIS provides up

to $125,000 per officer position for salary and benefit costs. CIS funding is no longer available

to Torrance County, and the county doesn't have sufficient budget to retain the officers. The

County is planning to lay off the four deputies. This appropriation will keep the deputies em-

House Bill 734 – Page

2

ployed. The County currently has ten full-time deputies and one part-time deputy, who are re-

sponsible for all of Torrance County, which is 4,500 square miles. The Sheriff's Department re-

sponds to over 1,600 calls each month. The Department currently receives an average of four

domestic violence calls each day. Two deputies are required to respond to each domestic vio-

lence call. If four deputies are laid off, the county will have only six full-time deputies to ser-

vice Torrance County.

DFA noted that it will probably be two years before Torrance County can support these four po-

sitions with local revenues.

DFA/LGD commented that Torrance County is suffering financial hardship to the point that a

reduction in force county-wide is possible. Much of this hardship is a result of detention costs.

The County is currently funding most of the deputies' salaries and benefits from general fund

transfers. The County has already transferred $216,455 from the general fund to keep these four

particular deputies employed. The County could potentially be looking at a reduction in force

for all of its employees to compensate for the budgetary shortages. If these deputies are em-

ployed through an appropriation, the County will most certainly not be able to carry the costs

post-appropriation. The annual budgeted amount for these four "Cops in Schools" deputies is

$155,242, including all salary and benefits. The requested appropriation is $300,000, which

would be a 48 percent increase.

PED identified the following benefits from HB734:

•

The presence of officers can create a bridge between law enforcement and young people

of all ages— teaching them that the police are the good guys and are there to help.

•

On-site protection for schools

•

For the school year 03-04, Moriarty schools reported a total of 637 incidents. (Safe

Schools report for New Mexico Schools 2003-2004)

1.

1 Firearm

2.

23 reports of vandalism

3.

437 incidents with illegal substance

4.

176 reports of violence

•

For the school year 04-05, Moriarty schools reported a total of 257 incidents. (Safe

Schools report for New Mexico Schools 2004-2005)

1.

0 Firearms

2.

20 reports of vandalism

3.

147 incidents with illegal substance

4.

90 reports of violence

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

PED noted that, if passed, HB734 could affect crime rates in Torrance County schools and posi-

tively impact school attendance and graduation rates.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

This appropriation will be administered by the Local Government Division of DFA, who has the

capacity to fund and monitor this project.

House Bill 734 – Page

3

TECHNICAL ISSUES

DFA suggested that the language referring to the Cops in Schools program be deleted, because

this is a reference to a federal grant program, for which funding in Torrance County has expired.

DH/mt