.
Murphy – Town council members got their first look at a bevy of budget requests from department heads Friday, ranging from a $9,200 specialized clothes dryer for the fire department to two additional patrol officers in the police department.
The town council meeting was held at the Murphy Fire Department and featured a broad discussion about what the town needs and hopes for. No action was taken, although another meeting is in the works with Police Chief Tim Lominac to take a deeper dive into his request for two more patrol officers.
The purpose of the meeting was for the town council to be aware of departmental budget requests as the town gets ready to prepare its 2023-24 fiscal year budget. Town Manager Chad Simons reminded the council about upcoming costs.
“We are replacing the water lines downtown,” he said. “We may need to be more conservative with our capital outlays.”
In a memo to Simons, Lominac said he is requesting two more patrol officers “due to the increase of our calls to service.”
He said the police department has the same number of patrol officers (10) as it did in 2015, It started tracking calls for service and found that the number of calls increased from 7,150 in 2016 to 8,726 this year – an 18 percent increase, with no additional personnel.
The request for two new patrol officer positions (up to $120,000 for pay and benefits) also comes with the cost to equip them (another $17,000) as well as two additional patrol cars (about $97,000 for two base 2023 Ford Police Interceptors with additional costs to outfit the cars).
“These added positions will be utilized to offset the department’s increased call volume,” the chief said in his memo. “The increased work force will alleviate most scheduling conflicts for training and will allow for a more proactive approach toward an officer’s daily activities such as more community policing, foot patrol within the downtown area, speed and traffic enforcement, a decrease in response time to calls, better coverage for special events, alleviate calls to service getting stacked, etc.”
The additional patrol cars will enable the department to allow patrol officers to take their vehicles home between shifts. It also allows the department to put its oldest patrol car, a 2013 Ford, into backup status.
The chief is also asking for a 4-5 percent cost-of-living increase in pay for his department. He is asking for increases in other budget areas totaling $18,000, due in part to inflation but also anticipating two new patrol officer positions.
The council plans to meet with the police chief and wants to know about staffing at other comparable police departments.
Fire Chief Al Lovingood is asking for $25,000 to hire more part-time help three days a week.
The added staff will enable the fire department to catch up with hydrant testing and maintenance, planning, equipment checks and training, the chief said in his memo to the town manager. The department recently replaced 1981-vintage vehicles with a 2007 pumper and a 2021 mini-pumper.
“This leaves our oldest apparatus, which is a tanker housed at the Natural Springs Station,” he said.
The tanker has a 1988 chassis with more than 250,000 miles with a 1978 body/pump with a 1,000 gallons-per-minute capacity.
Lovingood is also requesting $9,200 for a specialized dryer to maintain the department’s personal protective equipment, which is too heavy and bulky for regular clothes dryers. The dryer can have the PPE equipment dried and ready to use within four hours, compared to a day or two without the dryer.
“With cancer prevalent to the fire service, it is crucial personnel wash their PPE after incidents where it is exposed to carcinogens,” he said.
Lovingood is also asking for $9,800 to purchase rescue helmets, jacket, pants and gloves.
Other departmental requests include:
- Murphy Public Library, which is asking for $10,400 per year to upgrade a position from substitute to part-time.
- Public Works, which is asking for two submersible pumps at a cost $2,500, $210 for warning signs, $50,000 for a utility pickup truck (with the sale of surplus vehicles bringing in an estimated $33,000 to offset the purchase), $80,000 for a skip loader and $100,000 for a track hoe/excavator.
- Water Plant, which is seeking to upgrade telemetry equipment that monitors the water system from the distribution point to the water plant. The current system uses outdated 56k modems and landlines. Lightning strikes have forced the water plant to replace modems at its nine tank sites almost every year at a cost of $90 per modem — when they can find them.
Water Plant head Nathan Crubaugh wants to replace the telemetry system with equipment that uses either radio or cellular services. Cellular would cost $25 per month for five water tanks that need them. Radio systems would have to be bought for the remaining four but have no monthly cost.
The water plant also requested $21,350 to build a 550-foot-long fence around the water tank in Peachtree.
- Waste Water Treatment Plant, which is seeking about $56,000 in equipment and equipment upgrades.
- Downtown Development, which is seeking between $23,750 and $32,500 for new Christmas decorations.
“The town’s Christmas decorations on the 50 light poles are worn and in need of replacement,” Downtown Development Director Laura Lachance said.
Lachance also requested $10,000 to design way-finding signs to be installed once the N.C. Department of Transportation completes its highway projects. Manufacturing and installing the signs would be an additional cost.