YORBA LINDA : City Asked to Spend 9% More for Police

A proposed new contract with the Brea Police Department calls for the city of Yorba Linda to spend 9% more on police services this year, but the city will get 2,000 additional hours of reserve officer protection and the services of a gang investigator in the deal.

The City Council on Tuesday night will review the 1992-93 contract proposal, which reflects an increase of $430,000 over last year. Brea Police Lt. Bill Lentini said the main reason for the increased cost is that positions and programs that were initiated halfway through the last fiscal year will be continued and funded for a full year.

The only new position and program being added this year are a gang investigator, who will serve both Yorba Linda and Brea, and an increase in reserve officer hours. The Police Department plans to use reserve officers more often this year for duties ranging from parking control to patrol to help keep costs down, Lentini said.

“Reserves make fiscal sense, particularly in these economic times,” he said.

Yorba Linda has contracted with the Brea Police Department for 21 years. Roughly 25 patrol officers are assigned to Yorba Linda.

In his report to the council, City Manager Arthur C. Simonian deemed the proposed cost increase “reasonable” and said it was consistent with the yearly budgets negotiated in a long-term agreement that covers police services through June, 1996.

Yorba Linda’s per capita police costs are still “substantially below” those of other Orange County cities, Simonian said in his report. Yorba Linda pays $93 per resident for police, while neighboring North County cities pay an average of $145 per resident, according to the staff report.

Meanwhile, calls for services in Yorba Linda went up 14% in the first three months of this year, according to the report.

But Councilman John M. Gullixson said he has problems with the cost increase, since “we’re not increasing service that much.” Gullixson said he believes that some limits are necessary to prevent unbridled, unwarranted cost hikes each year.

“What we’re looking at is runaway police protection cost,” he said. “I don’t care about other cities. For some reason, the City Council can’t say no to the Brea Police Department.”

The council is also slated to discuss whether to renovate an administrative office police officers presently use in the recreation center at 4701 Casa Loma Ave. or move the office elsewhere.

Officers use the recreation center office space to write reports and reference crime data without having to return to police headquarters in Brea.