IF YOU GOWhat: Whitfield County public hearingWhen: 6 p.m. todayWhere: 301 W. Crawford St., administrative building No. 2PUBLIC SAFETY BUDGET CUTSWhitfield CountySheriff's Office: More than $1 million cutFire Department: $200,000 cutDaltonPolice: About $600,000 cutFire Department: No substantial cutsSource: Dalton and Whitfield governments
As Whitfield County and Dalton public officials hash out next year's budgets, public safety officials say their departments are going to take a hit.
Dalton police may have to delay the purchase of replacement vehicles and bulletproof vests, Police Chief Jason Parker said.
Five vacancies at the Whitfield County Sheriff's Office will have to go unfilled, a scenario that Sheriff Scott Chitwood called "workable."
But Whitfield County Fire Chief Carl Collins said his staff already is stretched thin.
When furlough days needed to meet the budget cuts are in place, the department will have to "depend more on volunteers," Collins said.
If some firefighters get sick, "we might not be able to staff all of the county's 10 fire stations," he said.
A public meeting will be held tonight on the county budget. County commissioners will vote on the budget Dec. 27.
"We're going to be cooperative [with county officials]," Chitwood said. "But we certainly don't want it to get to the point of jeopardizing public safety."
The sheriff's office is the largest county department, officials said.
If the county approves the budget as proposed, Chitwood would lose more than $700,000 from the patrol budget and about $350,000 from the corrections budget, county Finance Director Ron Hale said.
Chitwood said he will offset the cuts by monitoring overtime and fuel usage more closely and not filling five vacancies.
"It will be workable for us," he said.
Overall, county commissioners are looking at a $41 million budget that is $2.7 million less than the 2010 budget and $5 million less than initial requests for 2011.
CITY CUTS
Dalton officials are discussing a $25.7 million budget, nearly $1.6 million less than this year.
The city is proposing to cut more than $600,000 from the police department but the fire department budget will stay about the same as this year, officials said.
City Administrator Ty Ross said many of the police department cuts were capital funds and "surpluses that were discovered."
But Parker said capital funds, which make up about half of the cuts to his budget, would pay for new vehicles and bulletproof vests to replace old equipment.
A $300,000 cut in operational costs means the department will have to cut fuel costs, supplies and some training programs, Parker said.
He said one of his highest priorities is to have enough money for officers to keep up patrols.
"All of our efforts have gone to keeping that officer on the street," he said.
Ross said there was nowhere to cut the city fire department.
Fire Chief Bruce Satterfield said his department has lost eight employees in the last two years and the 2011 budget allows him to fill four of those positions.
"We are fortunate we are getting those positions that are put back in the budget," he said. "It becomes a safety factor the shorter the staff."
But the county fire department was not as fortunate.
Collins said the four furlough days the county is going to require will strain the department.
On top of that, all 24-hour shift employees will have to take an additional 24-hour and eight-hour furlough day and all 40-hour employees will have to take three additional eight-hour furlough days, Collins said.
There are only two full-time firefighters at five of the county's 10 fire stations and one each at the other five stations, he said. The rest of the fire responders are volunteers, he said, and their role is about to get more important.
"If we have people out sick, we might not have a station," he said.
County Commission Chairman Mike Babb acknowledged that the scenario is not ideal, but he said the county can't spend money it doesn't have.
"I don't think we feel good about what we've done overall, but you have to live in the real world."