CULVER CITY — The city’s fire and police departments announced last week that the agencies would trim their budgets to help close a projected structural deficit for the coming fiscal year.

According to City Councilman Scott Malsin, the departments were asked to shed three percent.

“When we were asked to make a 3 percent cut,” said Culver City Police Chief Donald Pederson, “it simply could not be done without eliminating positions within the department.”

As a result, the Culver City Police Department will reduce its sworn positions — currently 111 — to 108, and professional staff members from 57 to 50.

This, according to Pederson, includes the elimination of three police officers, one school resource officer, an alarm ordinance officer, a front desk officer, two community service officers, one facility manager, one secretary, a custodian, a jailer and a records technician.

School resource officers educate students on all aspects of law enforcement and engage at-risk youth. These positions were once grant funded, but those monies are no longer available.

Alarm ordinance officers oversee security alarm permits. The eliminated positions will be reassigned to patrol operations, and the responsibility for alarm billing will be transferred to another member of the department, likely the current secretarial positions.

Staffing of the front desk will be discontinued 24 hours a day. While the new hours have yet to be determined, said Pederson, “they will be based on a thorough work load analysis so we can be as affective as possible.”

This, he added, will make it less convenient for residents to drop by the department and voice their concerns to an officer. The officer that is normally assigned to the desk will be on field duty. If necessary, a police officer can be called in from the field to handle emergencies.

Community service officer write parking citations, issue and handle subpoenas, work the desk and assist with traffic control.

Also, overtime — previously dedicated to the department’s Juvenile Diversion Program — will be eliminated. The department will adjust days and hours as necessary. Patrol operations, said Pederson, are the backbone of the department and will not be negatively affected by the cuts.

“The effect of these positions being eliminated will primarily be reduced support for internal police department functions,” he noted. “The mission of the police department is to enhance the quality of life for communities present and future generations by continuing our tradition of proactive policing, timely response and public partnerships. Everything we’ve done regarding this proposed budget keeps that in mind. Given the unprecedented financial situation facing this city, we are proposing cuts to the police department budget…I’d like to note that I believe all of our programs are valuable and that these recommendations do not come easily or were they taken lightly.”

The Culver City Fire Department, who had been working with the city manager, finance department and executive management team regarding the city’s overall budget, presented “potential reductions that we feel will have the least impact on the core services that the fire department provides,” said acting fire chief Christopher Sellers.

For fiscal year 2010-11, the department will eliminate an associate analyst that works in fire administration, a permit technician employed in fire prevention, an EMS coordinator and a staff vehicle.

The combined savings, said Sellers, will be $350,000 per year. “With the loss of our associate analyst position,” he said, “we anticipate impacts to the following: The re-accreditation process, our ability to collect statistics and data, program research development, council bi-weekly reports, staff reports and general office support.”

They will continue to complete annual accreditation compliance reports each fall, but will have to evaluate their ability to complete the 2014 reaccreditation process.

In addition, the department is seeking new software programs that will assist in collecting statistics and data while reducing staff hours required during the retrieval process. All other duties will be conducted by remaining fire administration personnel.

The loss of a permit technician, he added, will impact counter coverage, processing permits, issuing permits, collection of fees, applications, verification of licenses, public record requests, general office support.

The fire department will partner with the building and safety department for assistance, and will distribute the remaining work among fire prevention staff and personnel.

Officials said elimination of an EMS coordinator will decrease leadership, impact continuing education of quality improvement programs along with ambulance building, suppress staffing and emergency response capabilities.

The assistant chief will be the point of contact for all EMS issues as of July 1. Some duties will be shifted to paramedic coordinators, as well as the EMS secretary.

The department will propose an automated EMS report form scanning system in the coming months, that will allow the EMS secretary to focus on newly distributed work.