SNOHOMISH — Dixie, a drug-finding police dog, can keep her job.
The Snohomish City Council decided Tuesday night that Dixie wouldn’t be one of more than a dozen cuts the city needs to make to keep its budget in the black.
The city also has a plan to keep another Snohomish police officer.
The $16,000 annually the city would recoup from giving Dixie a pink slip wouldn’t be worth the loss of her skills and the city’s investment in her training, Mayor Randy Hamlin said.
“I am elated,” Dixie’s handler, Sgt. Jeffrey Shelton, said Wednesday. “I was happy to see the council made a great decision. I was also happy to see they found a way to keep the officer position funded the rest of the year. I think it’s a win-win situation.”
Dixie, one of two dogs on the force, finds illegal drugs and the dirty money that often comes with them. The other dog, Kizar, is trained as a tracking dog.
Dixie, a ball of barely contained brown energy, and Shelton showed up at the meeting to argue for the shepherd-collie mix’s job. Snohomish recruited the pair in 2006 and she’s never missed a day of work — even after she sustained an injury to an ear, Shelton said.
“I took her to the vet with a bleeding head and even with that injury, she was still sniffing trash cans,” Shelton told the council.
Dixie has found $25,000 in cash and seven pounds of drugs, Shelton said, holding up a plastic bag of 25 grams of cocaine to emphasize his point.
The city also considered cutting the police force’s newest officer, and everyone, including Shelton, agreed the officer’s job needs to come before the dog’s.
The city applied for a federal stimulus grant aimed at helping police prevent layoffs. The city plans to give the officer a layoff notice, effective in September, and wait for the grant. If it doesn’t, the city will find other ways to pay for the officer’s job, city administrator Larry Bauman said.
“I’m confident we’ll be able to keep that position,” he said.
There may be a way to keep some of the seized drug money and use that to pay for Dixie’s care, police chief John Turner said. Different area police agencies share the use of their resources, including the dogs, and the seized money has gone to other agencies in the past. Snohomish could ask for a portion of the money.
“A police dog could be self-sustaining given some creativity,” the mayor said.
City staff will return to the council May 19 with an ordinance to amend the city’s budget. The city needs to cut about $180,000 in order to keep enough money in the city coffers to pay the bills.
The city also is considering selling surplus city vehicles and doing some work in-house instead of hiring specialists. The city is even considering using postcards for public mailings instead of sending materials in envelopes.
The recession is pummeling the city, which has already cut nearly $900,000 from this year’s $8.1 million general fund budget and laid off employees. The general fund pays for basics such as city employee salaries, city vehicles, training, supplies and equipment.
The police department has already lost two officer positions, three cadets, a part-time domestic violence victims’ advocate and five patrol cars, Turner said.
The police guild also worked with the city to reduce overtime costs, saving about $45,000, he said.
Debra Smith: 425-339-3197, dsmith@heraldnet.com.
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