PUEBLO — During a city council meeting Monday night, Pueblo Police Chief Chris Noeller made a pitch for more than $1 million to be added to the department's 2025 budget to keep up with operational and personnel costs.
Chief Noeller said the department has never been adequately funded and for the past decade, it has dipped into vacant staff salaries to cover operational costs. Those costs include gas and repairs for patrol cars, the police station's utility bills, and contracts with the Pueblo County Jail and Las Animas County Jail.
The Pueblo Police Department has a $38.2 million budget for 2024, which includes $2.3 million for operational costs and $35.9 for personnel costs. During Monday night's meeting, Chief Noeller asked the Pueblo City Council for an additional $1.1 million for operational costs and $382,000 more for personnel costs in next year's budget. He said the department should not have to depend on staff vacancies to pay for required operating costs.
Chief Noeller and Deputy Chief Joe Garcia said the department's operating budget has never been adjusted for inflation and rising costs for things like vehicle repairs and contract services are burdening the department. The two said when there's a lack of funding, public safety is ultimately affected.
"If we have vehicles that are broken down at the fleet repair shop because they've got 380 thousand miles on them, you know, it's hard to get those vehicles in service," said Chief Noeller.
There was no vote on the budget proposal Monday night because the meeting was a work session. However, most Pueblo City Councilmembers said they are open to a larger police budget.
Chief Noeller said in the future, the department is looking at buying an incident command vehicle and implementing a DFR (Drone as First Responder) program. Chief Noeller said there is not a specific timeline for when he'd like to see those things happen.
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