Palm Springs to close jail, fire station

59 positions will be cut in effort to ease
projected $7.7 million budget deficit

Marcel Honoré • The Desert Sun • April 22, 2010

Palm Springs officials announced Wednesday that
they will close the city's jail and one of its five fire
stations as part of efforts to close a $7.7 million
budget deficit projected for the coming fiscal year.

Officials plan to cut 59 more city staff positions —
including public safety personnel — as the west
valley city continues to suffer overwhelming losses
in tax revenue and a ballooning budget deficit. The
city will lose nine sworn police officer and six fire
positions — and 15 more non-public-safety
employees will be laid off.

Mayor Steve Pougnet called the latest cuts “heart-
wrenching” but “necessary to right-size the
government,” prior to the meeting. The cuts bring
the city's total eliminated staff in the past two years
to 107.

City Manager David Ready said he aims to have most
of the layoffs completed by mid-May.

The city already has laid off employees and enacted
furloughs to help deal with $18 million deficits in
the past two years.

“It's devastating,” said City Councilman Lee Weigel, a
former Palm Springs police chief.

Police Chief David Dominguez said closing the Palm
Springs jail will require his officers to drive to Indio

to book people into jail, taking them out of the field
for about an hour's worth of driving time.

Fire station No. 5, at 5800 Bolero Road, will close.
The firefighters will be relocated to vacant fire
positions at the other four stations across the city,
Ready said.

“Those fire guys here are extremely valuable to this
here club,” said James Cione, a resident of nearby El
Dorado Mobile Estates, a mobile home community of
some 450 seniors in south Palm Springs.

Emergency personnel from station No. 5 respond to
health issues there at least twice a day, Cione said.
“They know everybody. They know what to do. They
have their own clicker to open the door ... they're in
here in 30 seconds from the fire station.”

City officials said medical emergencies make up
about 90 percent of the Palm Springs' fire calls, and
they're working to replace fire crews with private
ambulance crews if the station closes.

Palm Springs Fire Chief Blake Goetz said station No.
5 frequently supports calls of service to other parts
of the city. Closing the station will allow more
firefighters to respond to emergencies from the
remaining four stations, he said.

Palm Springs presently employs 459 including
airport staff — the most employees of any valley city.
Its police department has 105 sworn officers, the
largest of the valley's four city police forces that
don't contract with Riverside County Sheriff's
Department, according to a Palm Springs city
survey.

By comparison, Cathedral City has 54 sworn officers
and Indio has 74, the survey indicated. Both have

more residents than Palm Springs.

Palm Springs' cuts also likely will lead to longer
lines at City Hall, slower response times for code
enforcement, less-frequent street-sweeping,
landscaping and park maintenance and other
decreases in city services, City Manager David Ready
said.

The City Council will in the coming months will
consider closing the city's pool and skate park and
limiting sponsorships to special events, he added.

Palm Springs staff cuts for 2010-11

Voluntary leave: 8

Layoffs: 15

Police sworn officer cuts: 9

Police non- sworn cuts: 21.5

Fire cuts: 6

Total: 59.5

Total staff cuts in the past two years: 107

Palm Springs general fund revenues:

2007-08: $75 million

2008-09: $71.5 million 

2009-10: $66.5 million

2010-11 (projected): $62 million

Source: Palm Springs Department of Finance