The director of Baker County’s 9-1-1 Dispatch Center told county commissioners Wednesday that she believes proposed budget cuts would seriously harm the Center.

Hope Lindsey said she is frustrated with the budget process.

“The budget I got on April 25th is completely different than the budget I got after lunch today,” she said Wednesday. “There were cuts made to where I honestly feel like our Center cannot function.”

Lindsey tendered her resignation on Monday, effective May 15, a decision prompted by her accepting a job in Idaho rather than the budget situation.

“She’s done a good job for us and we will miss her,” Commissioner Chairman Bill Harvey said.

Lindsey had asked for a budget of $957,838 for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

The proposed budget, which is slated to be approved in June, is $812,020.

Harvey said Wednesday’s discussion is preliminary, and he emphasized that the final decision on the budget won’t be made until June.

Harvey and Christena Cook, the county’s administrative services director, said the county can’t afford the amount Lindsey requested due in part to a large increase in the county’s cost for PERS, the public employees retirement system.

The proposed budget includes eliminating one dispatcher position that saves about $65,000, per a recommendation from Harvey, who is the county’s budget officer.

Lindsey’s requested budget would retain the dispatcher’s position.

Lindsey pointed out that the proposed budget does not allocate any money for training, although the state mandates that dispatchers have ongoing training.

She had requested $9,500 for training and travel, the same amount as in the current fiscal year’s budget of $918,000.

Cook said the suggested cuts to the dispatch center are necessary.

“This is a totally gutted budget,” she said.

The county’s PERS bill will rise by 30 percent starting July 1, an increase that will affect other county departments as well.

Cook estimated the PERS cost at $800,000 for the coming fiscal year.

The proposed budget of $812,020 for the dispatch center includes $300,000 in state revenue, a $29,000 beginning balance and $16,254 in radio revenue.

Baker City, which has the majority of the call volume at the center through the city’s police and fire departments, and the county will pay the remainder. An agreement between the two calls for the city to pay 75 percent and the county 25 percent — $350,000 for the city and $116,000 for the county based on the proposed budget.

Lindsey’s requested budget of $957,838 would require Baker City’s share to be $448,563 with the county’s share being $149,521.

A third option would have the city pay $371,000, which would cover training, supplies and equipment, but would not pay for the one dispatcher position.

But Cook said Baker City Manager Fred Warner Jr., Warner told her he is not willing to ask the City Council agree to set the city’s share at $371,000 unless the county includes the disputed dispatcher position in the budget.

“He’s not willing to give the $371,000, at least at this point,” Cook said. “I had no other option but to reduce it (to the proposed $350,000).

Cook also pointed out that the dispatch center’s beginning balance is much lower this year — $29,000 compared with $150,000 at the start of the current fiscal year.

Cook said insurance costs have increased by 9 percent with one of the county’s health insurance providers and 15 percent with the other. Those expenses are in addition to union-negotiated wage increases and PERS costs. Those increases affect all county departments.

The dispatch center budget is subject to review by the 9-1-1 Board, according to the agreement between the city and the county. The board consists of Harvey, Warner and three other members appointed jointly by the Baker City Council and the county commissioners. The 9-1-1 Board’s approval of the budget is only a recommendation, Harvey said.

“The 9-1-1 Board has to get together and discuss this more and the city and the county have to communicate and come up with some sort of a resolution,” Cook said.

The 9-1-1 Board’s was scheduled to meet today at 2 p.m. at City Hall, 1655 First St.

Sheriff Travis Ash said Wednesday he has grave concerns about the proposed cuts to the dispatch center’s budget.

Commissioner Mark Bennett, who served as the center’s director in the past, agreed.

“Certainly I agree with Hope on this … this could be a death blow,” Bennett said.

The budget committee’s final meeting will be May 30. The committee will forward its proposed budget to county commissioners, who have the final say, for their decision during June.

Reorganize Dispatch Center?

During the commissioners’ meeting earlier Wednesday, Baker City Police Chief Wyn Lohner suggested that in light of Lindsey’s resignation, it could be an opportunity to reorganize the dispatch center and possibly save money.

Lohner said the 911 User Group — made up of fire and police leaders in the county along with the center director— had met and spoke about the possibility of the sheriff’s office assuming control of the center after Lindsey leaves.

“It was not received well by any of us that Hope was choosing to leave,” Lohner said. “One thing that was brought up in the meeting — it was actually brought up by me — was where we are going to go with the direction of the dispatch center.”

Lohner said there has been some discussion that the center could possibly become part of a special taxing district in the next year and a half, but something needed to be done in the interim.

“What makes sense to me and makes sense to the users of the system — especially my department that runs the vast majority of the calls through that center and along with (Fire) Chief (Tom) Wills — is that rather than spend the time, the effort and the money to go out and find a new director that may have a new boss in a year and a half, we move the center back under the sheriff’s office,” Lohner said.

Lohner said that when he joined the Baker City Police 18 years ago, the dispatch center was run by the sheriff’s office. So are most centers in the region, he said, except those that have special taxing districts.

See more in the May 5, 2017, issue of the Baker City Herald.