The People's Budget

Type of funding: Programs and services (non-capital)

Rough cost estimate: Between $500,000 and $2 million

Evaluation notes:

✅ This idea could be implemented without changing current policy or law.

✅ This idea is within the City's jurisdiction. 

✅ This idea doesn't name a specific vendor. 

❌ This idea would incur costs indefinitely. 

Justification: This request could be accomplished by increasing staffing in the 9-1-1 center which requires budget increases and would be ongoing costs. The center currently adheres to the national 9-1-1 answering standard set by the National Emergency Number Association of answering 90% of 9-1-1 calls within 15 seconds and 95% of 9-1-1 calls within 20 seconds. Further improvements to this service level would require increases in personnel which would be determined by the service level requested.

Other notes: Because the 9-1-1 line receives many calls at once during an emergency that are reporting the same event (for example: 50 people reporting an accident on the freeway), answering speed can be degraded during those events while the calls are triaged and no amount of staffing would be able to guarantee an immediate answer in every situation.

Thank you for sharing your idea. This idea and its evaluation have been forwarded to the budget delegates. They will use this information to group together similar ideas, narrow down options based on community needs, and develop fully detailed proposals for you and your community to vote on in October 2023.