Helicopters will fly - for a price

Police helicopters won’t be grounded as planned on Jan. 1. Instead, city officials are scrambling to find the halfmillion dollars needed to keep them aloft another year.

The Colorado Springs City Council cut the two helicopters from the 2008 budget as part of $6.5 million in spending cuts because of slumping sales tax revenues.

Now, the council wants to reinstate the unit for a year or two while searching for money to buy a new helicopter, which would cost about $3.5 million.

Possible funding sources to keep the helicopters flying in the meantime are parks programs and streetlights, Mayor Lionel Rivera said Monday. The helicopters won’t be funded with other public safety cuts, he said.

“The majority of council has a lot of angst with grounding the helicopter unit,” Rivera said. “It’s a valuable asset we need in our community.”

Rivera identified two potential funding sources:

- Redirecting $169,000 earmarked for increases to parks programs for seniors, youths and at-risk teens.

- Shaving a portion from streetlight funding, which costs $4.5 million annually for energy, maintenance and replacement.

“I spoke with (Colorado Springs Utilities CEO) Jerry Forte about what the council may be proposing the first meeting in January, and his folks need to work on ideas to do that,” Rivera said.

He said that he didn’t know how streetlight costs could be reduced by $380,000, but he added that new technology, such as low-energy lightbulbs, may be part of the answer.

Rivera said safety is the prime consideration.

“We want to be sure it’s safe to fly them,” he said. “I don’t see why they can’t fly for another year or two years, but there’s always a chance something could happen to make them unsafe.”

Interim City Manager Mike Anderson, who proposed grounding the aircraft because of age and cost, noted the aircraft are more than 30 years old — older than the officers who fly them, in some cases.

The city has pumped thousands of dollars into maintenance, including replacing rotor blades in recent years at a cost of $70,000, Anderson said.

“Are they fatigued?” he said. “We don’t know. An assessment earlier this year showed there are some things that need to be done to keep them in the air.”

Namely, the airframes may not be safe, Councilwoman Margaret Radford said.

But she noted helicopters of the same age used by other agencies are flying.

“I’m having a hard time believing they’re more unsafe January 2nd than they are today or were six months ago,” she said. “We’re trying to balance risk and cost, which is a terrible place to be. You shouldn’t have to balance risk with cost.”

She said the council has asked Police Chief Richard Myers to provide cost estimates for operation and rehabilitation.

Anderson said the helicopters are a “force multiplier” and key to crime-fighting, largely because Forward Looking Infrared Sensors, or FLIR, can detect suspects on the ground from the air.

But the FLIRs are old and the helicopters lack television optics to allow them to see from greater distances during the day.

By updating the FLIRS and installing television optics the aircraft could fly higher, quelling complaints from the public about noise, Anderson said.

“Our guys say some TV stations that fly have better capability than we do,” he said.

“I’ve directed staff to put a full-court press to investigate all potential sources of funding for a new helicopter.”

That includes military, homeland security, state and private money, he said.

“I’m not optimistic, because these are tough times right now,” Anderson said.

For now, the helicopters will be airborne, at least until Jan. 8 — the next council meeting when members could amend the 2008 budget to reinstate the unit’s funding.

Anderson said officers associated with the unit will remain on staff.

If the unit is grounded, they’ll be deployed to patrol or other positions.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0238 or pam.zubeck@gazette.com