Nine Saratoga Springs dispatchers could be out of a job with the new 2011 budget proposal. But what will that mean for public safety? Our C.J. Spang has details.

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Facing a shortfall of nearly $4 million, Saratoga Springs had to find a way to balance the budget. Part of the plan calls for having the county to handle emergency dispatch services, instead of the city.

"It's very demoralizing for them," said Saratoga Springs Police Chief Christopher J. Cole. "This is the second year in a row without coming out and saying it, they're basically told they're expendable."

City leaders discussed a similar plan last year, but it never got off the ground. Now, the city's nine dispatchers are on the chopping block, unless another solution can be found before the December 1st deadline.

"I'm confident that the majority of council can get together and really look at this proposal that was presented last night and come up with some alternative proposal," Cole said.

If no alternative is found, the county has to take over dispatching duties for the city. But can the county handle the added workload?

"We are answering all the wireless 911 calls right now and handing them off," said Saratoga County Sheriff James Bowen. "We will continue to do all that. The difference is, we don't do everything their dispatchers do up there. Their dispatchers do a lot of extra things, but we will do the basic dispatching of police, fire and ambulance, we'll do that, that's no problem."

Besides dispatching emergency services, city dispatchers perform administrative and clerical work. Chief Cole says he would have to take cops off the street to handle the responsibilities. And that's despite the budget calling for the hiring of two part-time clerks.

"It's my firm belief that the dispatchers in the city, as far as the work that they do, is indispensable," Cole said. "Because they go above and beyond what they do as normal dispatchers."

Chief Cole says his department takes approximately 30,000 calls a year and while he believes the county can handle it, there could be some potential growing pains in making the transition.