Report: Woodlands plan $12M short for police
CONROE — The Howard Hughes Corp. says the cost to create a municipal police department is underestimated by more than $12 million a year in The Woodlands Township’s incorporation study.
The 96-page independent analysis of the Novak Group’s incorporation study was completed by Tim Oettmeier, former executive assistant chief of police for the Houston Police Department, and Joe Fenninger, former deputy director and chief financial officer of the Houston Police Department.
According to the report, the plan to stand up a police department for the city of The Woodlands
is “remarkably deficient” and falls “significantly short” in providing a reliable blueprint for ensuring the public safety in The Woodlands.
While the analysis provides detailed data, topping the list of concern for Oettmeier and Fenninger were the lack of planning for cost increases of salaries, benefits, insurance coverage or pension plans; liability insurance, the purchase of patrol vehicles; and insufficient patrol and investigative staffing.
“The Township’s plan is remarkably deficient in many areas,” Fenninger said. “It does not provide appropriate levels of funding for operations and processes that it does identify, and it fails to identify many other vital police operations that will incur significant costs. The plan’s financial projections are grossly understated.”
The Woodlands Township now contracts for public safety services from both the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office. The sheriff’s office contract, the largest of the two, is about $14 million a year.
The analysis says the cumulative four-year ongoing operating costs and labor costs are understated by $12.1 million to $14.5 million. According to Oettmeier, the report identifies $11.1 million as ongoing costs.
“It is not current; it is not complete and it remains unchanged for four years,” the analysis says. “Salaries for police are not static nor are the costs of benefits, insurance coverages, retirement plans, etc. They are driven by contracts and external economic factors.”
Additionally, Oettmeier notes the Novak Group did not correctly identify the costs associated with acquisition and deployment of patrol vehicles.
Over the four-year transition period, the plan to procure patrol vehicles “will cost approximately $6.1 million more than currently budgeted plus the $1.399 million cited in the Novak Report.”
The Novak Report uses an allin unit cost of $51,821 for a patrol vehicle, so 27 vehicles would cost $1.4 million, the analysis says. The current cost of a fully and properly equipped patrol vehicle, Oettmeier said, is $75,000; if 135 are needed, the four-year cost to procure will be $10.4 million.
Sheriff Rand Henderson said he has cooperated with all studies and provided real time data including information for the Oettmeier analysis.
“I feel the most accurate reflection of what it will take to run a large city police department is reflected in the Oettmeier study,” Henderson said, adding he has a “great deal of respect” for both Oettmeier and Fenninger.
Henderson said the county has a transition plan if The Woodlands were to incorporate but noted that plan is intended to benefit the county to avoid vacancies or a sharp budget increase due to salaries.