LEON VALLEY, Texas – The city of Leon Valley is making changes to its emergency dispatch services in order to save taxpayers thousands of dollars, but the move will leave another municipality in a bind.
Leon Valley Police Chief Joseph Salvaggio said the city voted to terminate its contract with Helotes city dispatch two years into its five-year contract. He points to budgetary concerns as the main reason. Bexar County dispatch will now be handling Leon Valley’s calls.
“It will save us, this fiscal year, about $150,000, which allows us to purchase a much-needed ambulance and do some other things the city really needed for this year,” Salvaggio said. Among those needs is new equipment for firefighters.
“It’s not about the contracts, not about hurt feelings or anything like that. It’s about us doing right by our citizens,” Salvaggio said.
Salvaggio expects dispatch calls will improve through Bexar County with updated technology.
The city of Helotes began operating its dispatch center in 2010 as a way to bring in revenue. It costs the city about $550,000 to operate it each year. Leon Valley was paying about $140,000 for its services, and the city of Grey Forest will continue to pay $5,000.
Helotes Councilmember Ed Villanueva is concerned the center will become an expensive burden for the city.
“Some business decisions need to be made whether the dispatch center can sustain itself going forward,” he said.
Villanueva had not been made aware that the city of Leon Valley had formally sent a letter to terminate services in early August. He knew there were concerns, but he said council members had not been informed about the final decision.
“It’s my concern that $140,000 coming from Leon Valley should not be counted as income and revenue, and budget numbers have to be changed,” he said.
Villanueva said he thinks the money will have to come from general revenue.
“I would consider dismantling the center or terminating the service in favor of going to Bexar County,” Villanueva said.
KSAT attempted to reach out to the Helotes city administrator about the letter of termination of services, but a spokesperson said she had no knowledge of the letter. The city declined to comment further.
The city provided KSAT with numbers of calls for service. About 41 percent of calls dispatchers take are for Helotes, 58 percent of the calls are for Leon Valley and only 1 percent of the calls are for Grey Forest.
Salvaggio said based on the terms of the contract, Leon Valley has the ability to terminate the contract if it cannot make payments.
