SPRINGDALE — The City Council agreed Monday night to pay for new dashboard cameras for the Police Department with money from the city’s general operating fund.
The council voted May 14 to spend $447,815 to buy 79 cameras from Watch Guard Video, paying for them from the general fund. Monday night, the council took no action, which left that original vote in place.
Police Chief Mike Peters told the council May 6 that 55 of the department’s dashboard cameras quit working on the same day in April. Those Safe Fleet cameras were installed in 2008.
The council agreed May 6 to consider purchasing cameras during its next committee meeting, which was Monday. But Councilwoman Kathy Jaycox asked the conversation be advanced to the full council May 14. Councilman Jeff Watson expressed concern members didn’t have enough time to consider how to pay for the purchase.
“We all agreed the dash cams were something we needed to deal with, but we need more time to determine how to pay for them,” Watson said during the May 14 meeting.
So the council revisited the purchase Monday night.
The council had several options to pay for the cameras.
The Police Department holds about $176,000 from both federal and state drug forfeiture returns, said Wyman Morgan, city director of finance and administration. But Peters hoped to use the money to build a proposed gun range for the department.
Council members also discussed taking the money for the cameras out of the city’s fund for capital improvement projects. At the end of April, the fund held $3.9 million, Morgan said.
The balance also continues to grow by about $200,000 to $300,000 each month, with 45 percent coming from a 1 percent sales tax dedicated for the fund, said Mayor Doug Sprouse. And the city expects additional money as the state begins collecting sales tax on all online purchases beginning in July.
The council chose to stick with its original plan and pay for the cameras from the general fund.
Typically, the general fund finishes the year with an excess balance because department heads don’t spend all they’re given, Morgan said.
“The budget gives them the money to pay the salaries if they were fully staffed, but they’re hardly ever fully staffed,” he said. This is particularly true in the Police Department with recruits hard to find.
However, the general fund revenue — also funded in part by sales tax receipts — is running behind this year’s expectation, Morgan said.
“That could mean that some revenues are coming in a little slower than they were last year,” Morgan said. “Or it could mean some department heads are spending their money a little faster than they did last year.”
Morgan said the council approved the 2019 budget at $1.5 million above expected revenue, again trying to take advantage of the salary money not spent.
“Let’s just take it out of the general fund, like we said we were going to,” said Councilman Cody Fulfer. “Worst-case scenario, we can transfer it from CIP later.”
Laurinda Joenks can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWALaurinda.