Federal police aid less than Minneapolis expected

President Obama and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak both got political mileage in February out of same-day speech shout-outs about federal stimulus money saving Minneapolis police jobs.

The nearly $5 million that Rybak expected to get from Washington has now shrunk to $3.73 million.

The city says it still won't have to lay off cops, but the lesser amount from the feds means the Police Department must dig deeper into its budget to find other savings. Among the budget victims will be 17 community service officers who were told this week that they will be laid off from their support-staff positions that are intended, along with college studies, to prepare them for jobs as officers.

The situation would have been worse but for Hennepin County's willingness to share some of its stimulus money with Minneapolis. Rybak wanted the county's entire share, which would have gotten the city closer to the $5 million mark, but County Board Chairman Mike Opat insisted that suburban communities get a cut of the funding, as they traditionally have from other federal policing grants.

The city's budget rejiggering began in February, when Rybak revised his 2009 spending plans because of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposed cuts in state aid to cities.

In a Feb. 23 budget proposal, Rybak said he would cut the Police Department's general fund, which comes mostly from state aid and city property taxes, by $6.5 million -- more than any other city department. But he announced that he would use $5 million in federal stimulus money to avoid police layoffs. He told the department to find $1.5 million in other savings.

"President Obama said he would help cities keep police officers on the job and he has delivered," said Rybak, who was Obama's Minnesota campaign co-chair last fall, in his budget speech to the City Council.

When a reporter pressed Rybak's office in February on how firm the $5 million was, spokesman Jeremy Hanson responded: "Mayor Rybak has personally spoken to people in the Obama administration as late as today ... and he is very confident about what we will get from [stimulus] funds." Hanson added that if the $5 million didn't materialize, Rybak would revise the city budget to "protect public safety from budget cuts."

Now the Police Department is looking for an additional $1.2 million in cuts atop the original $1.5 million deficit, to offset the smaller amount of federal funding. Police have identified just over $2 million in cuts so far, including reduced spending for overtime and various leave provisions.

"It's going to be a tough two years," Police Chief Tim Dolan said when Rybak proposed his revamped budget. Rybak said 57 cops and 19 nonsworn department employees would have been laid off in 2009, absent the Obama stimulus money, and he forecast an additional 116 cops and 39 other police employees would be axed under Pawlenty's proposed 2010 cuts. Pawlenty's cuts were never approved by the Legislature because of a fiscal standoff between the governor and lawmakers, but Pawlenty plans to announce soon how much he'll unilaterally trim.

"We're going to continue to look in corners of the budget," Rybak said this week. He said he's still committed to avoiding layoffs of police, and wants to retain the 21 remaining community service officers because they form a diverse group of candidates for officers.

"Public safety will be priority one for me. That will be especially about having officers on the street and the investments that back them," Rybak said.