During a Grapevine City Council budget workshop on Monday, city officials said a study showed that it takes nearly 10 minutes on average from the time a 911 call is answered in Grapevine until police or fire personnel arrive.
Arlington’s time is 7 minutes and 54 seconds; Colleyville’s time is 9 minutes and 35 seconds; and Euless’ time is 6 minutes and 37 seconds.
Information was not available for some cities. The Keller-Southlake emergency call center has a call processing time of 2 minutes and 5 seconds, but the response time was not available.
The average emergency call processing time and response time in Grapevine is 9 minutes and 44 seconds. Grapevine dispatchers handle 8,764 calls per person, and that is higher than the other 22 cities included in the study, except Carrollton, which handles 9,668 calls per dispatcher.
Grapevine Police Chief Eddie Salame and Fire Chief Steve Bass said the reason Grapevine’s average time is so high is because more personnel are needed for the dispatch center.
"If we are taking 4 minutes to process a call, then we are almost 10 minutes away from helping someone," Bass said.
Salame said, "The biggest factor is not having enough people to respond [to calls]."
Grapevine City Manager Bruno Rumbelow has proposed hiring 18 police and fire dispatchers over the next three years, six each year. The dispatch center currently has 12 telecommunicators. City Council member Darlene Freed said she visited the dispatch center recently and it is clear that more personnel are needed.
Hiring six telecommunicators in fiscal 2009 would cost the city $315,357.
Mayor William D. Tate said the largest expense for the city is salaries.
"That’s why when we are asked for six new employees, we look at that pretty hard," Tate said.
The city is proposing a salary increase for most city employees as well, which keep the city’s wages competitive. The proposed increase would cost the city $920,000.
The City Council has also proposed lowering the property tax rate from its current 36.25 cents per $100 in assessed value to 35 cents. The city has maintained the tax rate in recent years, but taxes have increased because of increased property valuations.
Mayor Tate has said the council needs to make a meaningful cut in the property tax rate because the economy is sluggish, fuel prices are high and some residents are struggling.
The city’s proposed fiscal budget, about $160 million, will be discussed at a public hearing on Aug. 26.
A vote on the budget would be considered Sept. 16. The fiscal year begins Oct. 1.