3 Cities to Receive Federal Grants to Help Hire Officers : Crime: Whether Moorpark, Fillmore and Ojai can meet 25% in matching funds isn’t known.

Moorpark, Fillmore and Ojai are due to receive federal funds to help hire one new police officer each under the latest round of 1994 Crime Bill grants, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

But it remains to be seen whether the cities can muster the 25% in matching funds required by the grant, police officials said. And, even with the 25% match, the money would not cover the full costs of a new officer’s salary and benefits.

President Clinton is expected to announce the grants today under part of the Crime Bill targeted at small-town America. The program is meant to put more officers on patrol in municipalities with fewer than 50,000 people.

Like hundreds of towns across the nation, the three Ventura County cities can receive grants totaling $75,000 over the next three years. The money must be spent on hiring new patrol officers through the Sheriff’s Department, which protects Moorpark, Fillmore and Ojai on a contract basis.

Each city must agree to spend at least $25,000 more on its officer over the three-year period, said Chief Deputy Ken Kipp.

But the cost of salaries, benefits, training and equipment is expected to be far more than that total, he said.

Salary and benefits for a rookie patrol deputy can top $75,000 annually, he said. That does not cover Sheriff’s Academy training that costs up to $25,000 more per deputy. Nor will it buy uniforms, equipment or patrol cars, he said.

“It’s an incentive. It is certainly better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick,” Kipp said. “Money is money, and any money you can get to support public safety is a plus. But this money only partially offsets the costs.”

And with taxpayer pressure growing this year against government spending, the city councils may have to work hard to come up with the money to support the new officers after the three-year grants run out, Kipp said.

“We’d prefer they commit to it 100%,” he said. “The cities seem to be committed to this. But on the other hand, we’re also facing some very tough fiscal times.”

Moorpark got the word Tuesday from U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s office. The crime bill would pay for one officer, not the three the city applied for in December, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Keith Parks.

“We’ve got to wait till we actually see what the funding is,” said Parks, who works in Moorpark. “Then the city will have to decide whether they want to use the funding or not.”

Ojai was notified by U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer’s office, said Ojai City Manager Andrew Belknap.

Ojai had sought the money for an officer to focus on “youth-oriented policing,” he said. But the Ojai City Council will have to weigh the extra costs of supporting the officer during its budget review for 1995-96, which begins in April, he said.

“The biggest issue for us is going to be the local match,” Belknap added, “Whether we can afford to do it.”