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POLICE CHIEF'S <br />1998-99 BUDGET REMARKS <br />The Governor's Hawaii Economic Revitalization Task Force <br />put it best: "Hawaii is facing a serious economic challenge. The <br />downturn is reaching into a seventh year, stretching any <br />conceivable definition of a cyclical downturn." <br />Like other departments, the Hawaii County Police Department <br />has hitched up its belt more than a few notches and, in spite of <br />increasing costs, is striving to operate more economically and <br />efficiently in order to meet the public's growing needs with fewer <br />government resources. We have looked to other sources of funding, <br />such as Community Policing Grants and other federal and local law <br />enforcement block grants, to supplement our public safety programs. <br />Because of the bleak economic forecast and until funds <br />become available, we are deferring important projects such as <br />improving the Kona district's radio coverage to eliminate blind <br />spots ($250,000) and the long overdue project of renovating the <br />Captain Cook Police Station and making South Kona into a separate <br />police district (about $866,000). <br />With the number of personnel vacancies and a resulting <br />shortage of manpower, our actual overtime expenses for fiscal year <br />1996-97 were 34 percent higher than the budgeted amount of nearly <br />$1.3 million. To make up for this shortage, we were mandated to <br />transfer funds from our regular salaries and wages. Because we <br />intend to aggressively fill vacant positions, however, this source <br />