All five Perris City Council members agreed Friday they need to persuade voters to pass a citywide public safety tax that would improve minimal police and fire protection to stave off financial collapse.

The realization came at a workshop to give council members a picture of the city's budget needs in the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1.

"Staffing problems are the main issue," Councilwoman Rita Rogers said. "The only way to address this problem is with some sort of tax."

Fire Battalion Chief Bill Plough painted the bleakest picture. The city's north end, where industrial building is booming, faces inadequate fire protection.

"Everything north of Placentia Avenue cannot meet the county's five-minute response-time standards," he said. "In some areas, housing tracts are seven to 15 minutes from a fire truck or ambulance."

A more critical problem is the lack of seasoned firefighters. Under the Riverside County Fire Department contract with the city, firefighters are replaced every nine months with newly trained recruits.

"We're in a constant state of training," he said. "These people are doing their best and receive excellent training, but they are not at the level you want to have in an urbanized environment."

Perris' fire station is the county Fire Department's busiest, edging out Moreno Valley's Sunnymead station.

Daily police patrol hours have also been cut back from 120 to 104. That means this year there is one less officer on two of three daily shifts than there were last year, Perris Police Chief Jeff Turley said. Perris contracts police service through the Sheriff's Department.

And city maintenance crews are spread even thinner.

Three workers maintain 67 acres of parks, said Public Works Superintendent Dennis Brown. Trees are trimmed only if they present a safety hazard. Two maintenance workers fill pot holes in the city's 130 miles of paved roads. One worker, borrowed from the water department, grades the city's 15 miles of dirt roads.

And although the city has made significant strides in shrinking its debt from $3.2 million to $1.1 million, it has no cash reserves and has received a critical assessment from auditors in March.

As a result, bond insurers met Thursday with City Manager Ron Molendyk and Finance Director Terry Shea to determine whether the city is on the verge of bankruptcy.

The council responded with calls for some type of tax to take the pressure off the city's operating fund, which pays for police, fire, parks and the senior center.

Last fall, the council passed an $8.4 million operating budget, the second-smallest spending plan in a decade. It made significant cuts in police and recreation programs and almost closed the senior center.

"We should probably continue cutting all nonessential spending," Councilwoman Cecilia Larios said, referring to recreation and senior programs.

Perris Mayor Daryl Busch agreed that a tax was needed, but said the city manager should recommend priorities on which departments should get the additional money.

"I don't want to bind ourselves by asking for a tax that's not going to put money where we need it," the mayor said.

Council members agreed that police and fire were the areas most critically in need of additional spending. Molendyk told the council the city would need to add $200,000 to police and about $118,000 to fire budgets in the coming fiscal year to improve their effectiveness.

A $1 million tax has been suggested in the past.

Plough told the council they need to be passionate about the need for such a tax.

"If we go with a public safety tax, everyone in this room has to be in the streets with it. We need to make the public understand this is the right thing to do," he said. "They have to feel it in the gut."

Ricardo Duran can be reached by e-mail at rduran@pe.com or by phone at 672-4913.

Published 4/8/2000