CITY TO FIND OUT DRUG-BATTLE COSTS

Narcotics Unit May Face Need for More Funds, Supervisor Says

When Amarillo starts its narcotics unit in June, it will do so without
access to grant funds and perhaps seized drug money that came along with
participation in a regional task force. Although the city will run the new
unit with matching funds that it otherwise would have contributed to the
task force, staying atop the city's drug problem could prove costlier than
that, the task force's supervisor said.

"Amarillo has a narcotics problem," said Lt. Mike Amos, director of
Panhandle Regional Narcotics Trafficking Task Force. "I feel if they left
all the people in place and kept the office staffed with the regional
manpower that there's plenty of work out there."

Amos, a co-defendant with the city in the recently settled lawsuit related
to the 1999 Tulia drug sting, will continue as task force supervisor until
it disbands May 31, as required by the settlement agreement.

He is working to propose budgets for the new narcotics unit's operations
through Sept. 30 and for fiscal year 2004-05.

This year, the city contributed $461,000 to the regional task force's
operations, $425,000 of which paid salaries of Amarillo Police Department
personnel serving on the force, according to task force budget information.
The Globe-News received the information Wednesday after submitting a
written request to the city's legal department.

But of the $720,000 in federal money the city received for the task force,
$331,000 also went to APD employees, and the city loses out on that money
without the task force. So when budgeting for the narcotics unit, city
leaders may have to downsize Amarillo's narcotics-tracking staff or reduce
the salaries if they don't want to increase spending on narcotics operations.

"That's one of the unknowns at this point in time," Amos said of the
payroll options. "We're looking at trying to keep the same number of staff,
but there's a good chance there will be some downsizing. Those decisions
have not been made."

This year, 10 APD officers and two APD civilian staffers served on the task
force. Salaries included: $84,878 for the director, paid for with city
funds; $60,167 to $74,130 for various ranks of officers up to sergeant,
paid for with grant and city funds; and $24,148 and $48,912 for a clerk
typist and secretary, respectively, paid for with grant and city funds.

Even if the city maintains the number of personnel working in narcotics and
absorbs the salaries paid for with grant money, the police department
likely would balance the cost through attrition and retirements, Amos said.
So the police department's overall payroll would stay about the same.

But questions also exist about how operational expenditures will be funded.

The city paid such expenditures largely with $280,000 in forfeited funds
the task force recovered in drug busts. The funds paid costs related to
travel, training, equipment and supplies, and contractual and professional
services.

Amos said the operational expenditures would drop by about 30 percent to 50
percent due to the decrease in territory covered by the unit.

But the forfeited funds may or may not be available to the narcotics unit,
pending an arrangement among the city, Texas Criminal Justice Division and
Texas Department of Public Safety, Amos said.

City Manager John Ward also has said the city is eyeing the forfeited
funds, of which between $1 million and $2 million are held in an account,
to support the city's payment of the $5 million settlement.

Overtime and meth-lab cleanups will continue to be two of the costlier
expenses associated with narcotics trafficking, Amos said. Much of the work
doesn't squeeze into an eight-hour day, he said, and meth-lab cleanups run
about $3,000 apiece.

In 2002, Potter County had 18 meth-lab busts, and Randall County had five.
Federal Drug Enforcement Administration funds can help cover the costs,
Amos said.