Posted: Monday, 08 March 2010 9:06PM
Police and Fire budgets
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The Winona City Council continued its review of individual department budgets Monday night and heard from the police and fire departments.
Police Chief Paul Bostrack told the council even without additional cuts, the city's 37 full-time officers puts Winona behind the national and midwest averages of officers per 1-thousand inhabitants.
Bostrack said a 10-percent cut in their 4.2-million dollar 2010 budget would mean a loss of nearly 5 officer positions.
Fire Chief Ed Krall said his department is already doing their fair share, noting only a 2-percent budget increase in the last 8 years while the number of fire calls has gone up 37-percent.
Krall said a 10-percent decrease in his departments 2-point 3-million dollar budget would cut the number of firefighters assigned to 24 hour shifts to 5 from 6, and change the number of minimum staffing to 4 instead of the current 5.
The city is bracing for a potential loss of 1.3 million dollars in local government aid if Governor Tim Pawlenty follows through with possible unallotments. That could mean cuts in services by both the police and fire departments.
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