Options Weighed on Funding for Public Safety Building

Santa Monica officials are looking for a way to build a public safety building after voters rejected a $29.5-million bond measure Tuesday that would have helped pay for a facility to house the city’s police, fire and emergency operations.

Proposition EE, which would have authorized Santa Monica to issue general obligation bonds to pay for the building, fell short of the needed two-thirds vote by less than 5 percentage points.

City officials are considering cutting other services to pay for the safety building or taking the issue back to voters in a special election.

Police Chief James T. Butts Jr. said the current police headquarters, which is nearly 40 years old, must be replaced. More than 400 employees are crammed into a building designed for 160 people. The 1994 Northridge earthquake shook up equipment so much that 911 operations were down for four hours.

On Wednesday--the day after the bond measure was defeated--a water pipe above the detective bureau burst, sending a torrent into the department and leaving almost three inches of water on the floor.

“We are in a building that is just worn out,” Butts said. “In the event of a disaster, we are relatively certain we are going to be nonoperational to one degree or another.”

Butts said the city needs a new building that conforms to earthquake safety standards and has backup power systems to prevent a loss of communications.

But the question of how to finance the $41.9-million facility remains up for debate.

City Manager John Jalili said the issue will be discussed at the city’s January budget priorities meeting. Santa Monica has set aside $12.4 million for the project.

City officials are considering borrowing the rest of the money through high- interest loans, which could force cuts in other areas.