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School Board wants to negotiate police pay

With the school resource officer budget in the red, the board seeks to lower its share of deputy and police salaries.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published February 23, 2005

TAMPA - The Hillsborough School Board likes having deputies and police officers in its middle and high schools, where they protect and patrol the campuses.

But board members don't like that their "safe schools" budget is running a $1.2-million deficit this year. And that they can't control the costs because law enforcement agencies set the officers' salaries.

The school district pays half of those salaries - a price tag that rose $400,000 this year when salaries went up and three new officers were hired.

The board wants to spend its money in other ways.

"It's nice to have a police car there," board member Susan Valdes said Tuesday, during a budget discussion on ways to reallocate district resources. "But I don't know that we should be paying for that police car."

The board instructed staff to talk to county and city officials about having the law enforcement agencies cover the total cost, or at least a larger portion. The officers do not work the entire year in schools, board member Jennifer Faliero pointed out, yet the district covers half their wages.

Moreover, Faliero said, when officers are called away from a school, they go, leaving campus responsibilities behind. If a school has criminal activity, she said, police must respond anyway.

"Our mission is education. Their mission is safety," she said. "I would like to get out of paying for that."

The issue might be negotiable, Hillsborough sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said. But Carter cautioned against the notion that school resource officers are simply armed patrols.

"Our SROs in the county stay extremely busy," she said. "Unfortunately, almost on a daily basis, there are incidents in the schools where they are making arrests. The SRO also is there as a deterrent to crime. . . . They also conduct safety programs."

When the Sheriff's Office assigns its employees to another agency, Carter said, that agency should share the cost.

A spokesman for Tampa police could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

School officials say the district needs to deal with law enforcement agencies from a new perspective.

"I think we're getting gouged," chief of staff Jim Hamilton said. "And ultimately, it's their job to protect the schools whether we pay for it or not."

Hamilton said the staff would look for ways to save money in the school resource officer program and several others. Other areas up for review include transportation, which costs about $11-million more than it brings in, and federal programs, which cost several millions more than they generate in revenue.

The district also will analyze expenses school by school, to make sure money is used effectively and equitably, Hamilton said.

The moves are part of an effort to free about $50-million of the district's projected $1.2-billion budget for fiscal 2006, which begins in July. The board needs about $8.5-million to cover expected shortfalls in state funding, about $5.5-million to shore up its account that helps maintain its credit rating, and the rest to give "fair, but not generous" salary increases to its employees.

The board is not scheduled to adopt its final budget until September. What happens in the upcoming legislative session could change the picture.

Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at 813 269-5304 or solochek@sptimes.com

[Last modified February 23, 2005, 00:34:19]