Hoping to squeeze new vehicles out of a budget in the red, Brookfield police officials say the requests will save money long-term.

Due to budget cuts, the Police Department was unable to purchase new vehicles in 2009. The expected deficit is about $500,000.

“There’s a lot of miles on the cars,” said Lt. Ed Petrak. “They still run, but they’re getting to the point where they need to be replaced.”

In a memo to the Village Board, Police Chief Steven Stelter said the “current situation is such that the maintenance costs are far outweighing the benefits of keeping the vehicles another year.”

Police wants to lease six Ford Crown Victoria vehicles and two Chevrolet Tahoes. By leasing the eight vehicles, the memo read, the department would be able to replace most of the patrol fleet and would not need to acquire any other patrol or detective vehicles for three years.

The total cost for leasing eight vehicles would be $184,304, about $23,038 per vehicle, with striping and equipment included.

The vehicles being replaced currently have a range of mileage on them from about 66,500 miles to about 112,500 miles.

Stelter wrote adding more patrol cars would put the Brookfield department in the same range as other area police forces for the ratio of vehicles to personnel.

The Police Department currently has 16 vehicles. Eight of those are marked patrol cars.

Six of the newly-leased vehicles will be used as patrol cars. The others will be used for other department purposes. Six cars will be replaced.

In an effort to increase revenue for Brookfield, Fire Department Chief Patrick Lenzi proposed increasing the ambulance fee for advanced life support services from $600 to $1,000.

“Over in Riverside, they’re increasing their fees, and the Pleasantview Fire Prevention District is, too,” Lenzi said. “These are very tough economic times. We’re doing what we can to keep revenue coming into the village.”

In a memo to the board, Lenzi said ambulance billing generates much revenue for the village’s general fund.

In 2008, the paramedic billing services department recorded 687 advanced life support services calls. At a $400 increase per call, that is a possible $274,800 in increased revenue.

Lenzi also suggested increased the basic life support services transport fee from $500 to $750.

There were 409 calls in 2008. With a $250 increase, that could create $102,250 in additional revenue for the village.

Other smaller fee suggestions including changing the nitrous oxide and oxygen fees each $50, from $150 to $200 and $100 to $150, respectively.

Lenzi says in the memo there is wording in the village ordinance about ambulance fees that states no village resident will have to pay out of pocket. The ordinance has been in place for six years.
The ordinance states nonresidents do have to pay fees out-of-pocket unless there are special circumstances, such as the person requiring the ambulance being a village employee who lives in another town or not having insurance.

Another possible budget cut would be eliminating the captain’s rank at the Fire Department. There are currently three captains whose positions would be eliminated.  Lenzi said if that the captain’s rank was eliminated, the Fire Department could not effectively operate its two stations because they are understaffed. 

“We are very low staffed as it is, we always have been,” Lenzi said. “We are going to do everything we can to keep the service levels the same for the residents of Brookfield.”

 Eliminating the positions would save the village $25,891 for each of the first two years. After that, the village would save $12,351 annually.

The captain is in charge of the fire scene before the chief arrives, and sometimes has to engage in structural firefighting.
 

“When you have a town separated by the railroad tracks that provides front line medical care on both sides of town — no other town that touches Brookfield does that,” Lenzi said. “The village is so fortunate that we have every person available on the fire department right now. We’ve always done a stellar job for the amount of personnel we have.”

Both the Police and Fire departments suggestions will be further discussed at the next board meeting held at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9, at the Village Hall, 8820 Brookfield Ave.