SIERRA VISTA — The city’s police chief is asking the Arizona Department of Public Safety to reconsider its plan to charge fees for its crime lab services.

Sierra Vista Police Chief Ken Kimmel sent a letter to DPS Director Roger Vanderpool Monday asking him to reconsider this policy, which is the result of a $7.8 million budget cut as a result of a last-minute effort by the state Legislature to pass a balanced budget.

The lab provides services for sheriff’s offices and police departments statewide.

To help make up the deficit, lawmakers indicated that DPS may change fees for its services. It’s a proposal the DPS is considering.

Sierra Vista Police Chief Ken Kimmel

That’s not good for cities and towns that have already passed their budgets for the year.

“For years, the Arizona Department of Public Safety crime lab has done an outstanding job with short staffs and funds for sheriff offices and police departments across the state,” Kimmel said.

With the proposals DPS has made, Kimmel feels the proposed changes made will negatively impact the department, the city and its residents.

One idea proposed by the DPS is to charge departments and agencies a flat fee based on how often they used the lab’s services in the last year. Kimmel said the Sierra Vista Police Department sent approximately 833 cases to the crime lab. Those services totaled $353,350.61. DPS is asking the department to pay $196,928.91 to continue using those services.

Kimmel said that amount is approximately 28 percent of the department’s fiscal 2008-09 budget for police operations and maintenance, which is $697,569.

“This is a significant financial impact and is compounded by the fact that our citizens would in substance be taxed twice for this one service,” the police chief said in his letter to the DPS director.

Residents would be taxed at the state level and the city level to help pay for the crime lab’s services.

Kimmel said he did not know who made the decision to cut the funds, but said he’s disappointed. Police chiefs and sheriffs were not asked for input in the decision or given enough notice to try and raise the necessary funds. In addition, Arizona would be the only other state in the nation to charge agencies for the crime lab services.

In 1988, Mississippi statutorily imposed a fee on users of its forensic services. The Mississippi Association of Chiefs of Police has been working for the past two years to repeal the law because it feels it is not feasible.

The proposed idea also could lead to police officers having to choose what cases to send to the lab for analysis.

“How much money are you going to invest for this criminal case?” Kimmel said is the question it comes to.

Kimmel said they had DNA run in recent burglary case, and the results cleared 10 other cases. If it comes to picking and choosing cases, more could go unsolved.

“When you’re a victim, you’re a victim. It doesn’t matter if we think it’s significant. It’s significant to the victim,” Kimmel said.

The Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police, Sheriff’s Association and the League of Arizona Cities and Towns have all voiced opposition to the plan, Kimmel said. The league is considering hiring a constitutional attorney to determine if the plan is legal.

Should the plan go through, Kimmel said police may look into alternative lab services such as private labs or larger departments’ labs.

“If all of the police agencies impacted by the proposed fee policy found alternative lab services, this assessment would not supplant the intended funds necessary to keep the State lab in operation,” Kimmel’s letter stated.

Pennie Gillette, deputy director with the DPS, said the department in still in the process of finalizing the plan to recoup the funds lost when its new budget goes into effect at the end of September. Two other options the department has looked into are pooling Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, funds or charging for its services on case-by-case basis.

Gillette said the department is trying to minimize the impact on its users and realizes the economic downturn the state has experienced, which has led to a loss of income for government agencies.

“We’re working to still provide service and make the impact to agencies as painless as possible,” she said.

Herald/Review reporter Julie Ann Marra can be reached at 515-4680 or by e-mail at julieann.marra@svherald.com.