Yorba Linda to pay slight increase as sheriff's contract with Orange County enters eighth year

Yorba Linda will pay a slim 1.02% more for police services in the fiscal year beginning July 1 during the third year of a five-year contract with the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Cost of the agreement with the county will be close to $12.4 million, which represents one-third of the city's estimated $37.1 million in expenditures for the year, based on a mid-term revision of the total operating expenditures presented at a June 16 City Council meeting.

The $125,000 increase is one of the smallest-ever during the eight years the county has provided law enforcement for the 20-square-mile city. Sheriff's deputies began service in 2013 after the council ended a 42-year relationship with the Brea Police Department.

No changes in service levels are expected for the year, with 42 full-time equivalent positions continuing on the payroll, supplemented by 12.9 slots that are considered regional or shared.

More than one-half of the policing budget goes to provide the 23 patrol and two motorcycle deputies assigned to the city, a total of $6.9 million. Two other deputies serve in community support and one as a school resource officer, totaling a bit more than $800,000.

Cost for providing each deputy position is $274,282 ($279,358 for a motorcycle deputy). But that's not all salary, because the figure includes health and pension benefits, equipment and other factors associated with placing a deputy in the field.

Other positions and related costs are the “police services chief,” currently Lt. Cory Martino who reports to City Manager Mark Pulone, at $401,628; four patrol sergeants at $334,826 each; a half-time administrative sergeant at $167,414; and a half-time investigative sergeant at $161,589.

Others include three investigators at $287,206 each; an investigative assistant at $129,473; a crime prevention specialist at $108,012; two community service officers for parking and traffic enforcement at $122,710 each; and an office support specialist at $98,413.

The 12.9 shared positions include 7.6 in various levels in traffic enforcement, 4.3 in various levels in auto theft and one in motorcycle supervision. Total cost for these slots is $258,981.

Individuals who are arrested in the city are booked at county facilities, either an intake- release center or juvenile hall, or other facilities designated by state or federal officials.

Arrestees are not booked at the city's police services building at Arroyo Park on Yorba Linda Boulevard. The building, furniture and equipment, including computers, are owned and maintained by the city. The city also owns and maintains the motorcycles used for traffic enforcement.

The contract lists performance goals – five minutes for priority one calls, 12 minutes for priority two calls and 20 minutes for priority three calls – and notes that if a major incident occurs outside the city, personnel will remain in the city to respond to priority one and two calls.

Coronavirus pandemic results in less traffic accidents in Yorba Linda; north county voters continue embrace of mail-in ballots

Yorba Linda has experienced a significant reduction in traffic-related accidents since the governor's mid-March stay-at-home declaration, according to a series of reports compiled by the county Sheriff's Department and presented to the city's Traffic Commission.

Only 11 collisions and other incidents on the 20-square-mile city's more than 200 miles of roadways were reported from the governor's March 19 order through the month of April, deputy Luke Sapolu has reported to commissioners.

Of the 11, four were collisions – two with injuries – and seven were incidents where no official reports were taken because “a report was not warranted or the parties exchanged information,” Sapolu noted in his reports to the five City Council-appointed commissioners.

By contrast, 102 collisions and incidents were reported from Jan. 1 through March 18. The total included 9 collisions and 15 incidents in January, 18 collisions and 26 incidents in February and 12 collisions and 22 incidents in March before the governor's declaration.

Traffic-related accidents for 2019 also eclipsed the current numbers, with 51 reported in March, 31 in April and 31 in May. The May 2020 numbers are expected to be reported to commissioners at their monthly meeting scheduled for June 25.

The accident numbers for January and February 2019 were 40 and 51, respectively. Cause factors reported for accidents for both 2019 and 2020 were mostly hit-and-runs and unsafe speeds and turns.

* * *

Voters in Yorba Linda and six other north county cities are increasingly embracing the option to cast their votes on mail-in ballots, a trend that's likely to continue for the upcoming November general election due to coronavirus concerns.

North county's registered voters – numbering 248,307 at last count – cast a record number of mail-in ballots in the March 3 primary, the first county-wide election for which all registered voters were issued a mail-in ballot by the county Registrar of Voters.

Yorba Linda's voters cast close to 80% of their ballots as mail-ins in the primary, with the remainder cast at one of the county's 180 voting centers (19%) or other early vote locations (1%).

Mail-in figures for other north county cities in March were 82% in Brea, 77% in Buena Park and La Palma, nearly 78% in Fullerton and Placentia and 76% in La Habra.

The percentage of mail-in ballots cast in each north county city inched up in the two previous county-wide elections, the November 2018 mid-term ballot and the 2016 presidential election.

In those contests, mail-in ballots were issued to voters who had requested permanent vote-by-mail status or who had requested a mail-in ballot for a specific election.

Mail-in vote percentages in 2016 and 2018: Brea, 55% in 2016 and 61% in 2018; Buena Park, 52% and 60%; Fullerton, 54% and 61%; La Habra, 48% and 56%; La Palma, 53% and 58%; Placentia, 55% and 63%; and Yorba Linda, 57% and 62%.