LAKE ELSINORE -- The City Council, which touts public safety as its top priority, is expected to consider today whether to grant Police Chief Louis Fetherolf's request for eight more sworn officers.

Fetherolf made the request last week in a memo to the city manager in anticipation of the council's midyear budget review scheduled for this afternoon. The council will be reviewing its operating and capital improvement budgets and discussing revenue and spending adjustments.

The budgets cover the fiscal year that ends June 30. While revenues are now expected to rise slightly to a little more than $31.5 million by the end of the year, expenditures are scheduled to increase nearly $500,000 to $31.4 million.

Law enforcement spending promises to dominate today's discussion. Fetherolf is asking the council to approve the hiring of one motorcycle officer, a sergeant to oversee the department's traffic division, six patrol officers and two nonsworn community service officers. The added officers would cost the city an additional $530,000 for the rest of this fiscal year and $1.68 million the next year.

If the council ultimately goes along with the request, it would inflate the police department to 50 sworn officers and would increase the ratio of police officers to residents from one officer for 1,000 residents to 1.2 officers per 1,000 residents.

The higher ratio is preferred by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, with which the city contracts for police services, Fetherolf said. Ratios aside, he said the city's climbing growth demands the additional police personnel.

"With that influx of population also comes crime," Fetherolf said.

His statistics appear to back that up. According to statistics included in his memo, from 2002 to 2006, major crimes in the city increased 17 percent, traffic collisions rose 43 percent, traffic-accident fatalities increased 55 percent and calls for service rose 22 percent.

Though the city's budget situation looks good at the midyear point, City Treasurer Pete Weber said, it might not be able to afford such an increase in public safety spending.

"We would be strapped," Weber said. "We would have to make cuts elsewhere."

City Finance Director Matt Pressey agreed.

Though the city could handle the increase for the remainder of this fiscal year, he said, it wouldn't be able to in future years with the spending priorities the council now has.

"We wouldn't be able to afford that in the following year based on our projections of revenues," Pressey said.

Fetherolf did provide the council with additional options if it chooses not to approve the eight officers.

While the two additional proposals he added in his memo include the motorcycle officer, the traffic sergeant and the two community service officers, one calls for the hiring of three patrol officers instead of six and the other calls for no additional patrol officers.

Each plan would cost the city significantly less than Fetherolf's request.

City finance officials are recommending that the council go with the plan that doesn't include the additional patrol officers. That would cost the city an extra $163,000 this year and $518,000 next year.

Along with that increase in public safety spending, the finance officials are also recommending that the council spend an additional $8.2 million in the city's unallocated revenue fund. That fund saw a significant $6.8 million boost last year thanks to a one-time influx of unexpected revenues.

Included in the proposed expenditures are $1.5 million for the community center to be built in the Alberhill Ranch sports park on the north end of town and $1 million each for the paving of Franklin Street from Main Street to Avenue 6, for the proposed civic center and for improvements to the city owned boat launch.

The budget review will begin at 4:30 p.m. at the Cultural Center, 183 N. Main St.

- Contact staff writer Jose Carvajal at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or jcarvajal@californian.com.