By Stephanie Brien
Journal Times | Posted: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 12:00 am
RACINE - Should the city raise the tax levy up to an additional $400,000 for each of the next three years to fund extra police overtime?
That is essentially the question taxpayers will answer on Tuesday, Election Day.
Mayor Gary Becker's 2009 proposed budget raises the tax levy 3.65 percent from $42.82 million in 2008 to $44.38 million in 2009. State law says you can increase the levy by 2 percent plus the cost of paying off previous debt.
The referendum could increase the tax levy an additional $400,000 over each of the next three years totaling $1.2 million. The $400,000 would mean that taxpayers would spend an additional $10 on taxes for every $100,000 worth of property, Becker said. In 2008, residents with $100,000 in property paid $1,076 for city taxes.
The City Council unanimously voted to include the referendum on the ballot and now it is up to the public to decide what happens next. If the referendum is approved, the City Council will have the authority to increase the tax levy by up to $400,000 above state statute limitations for the next three years, said David Maack, president of the City Council. That amount would be a line item on the annual budget, which the City Council must vote to approve on Nov. 18.
In preparation for the vote Racine Police Chief Kurt Wahlen answered a few questions about the referendum and police overtime. Parts of the answers were shortened or paraphrased for clarity.
The 2009 proposed budget currently includes $750,000 for police overtime. Why do you need more?
Our current overtime goes largely for court appearances. It is also used for the SWAT team and raids that the department does. But this money would allow us to do the extras.
What would you do with the extra overtime?
There are two things that we deal with. One is deal with crime itself, and trying to eliminate crime. The other thing we need to fix in the community is the perception of crime. It may not be real. It's their perceptions, but it's real for them. The only way to address that is through a police presence, putting officers out on bikes and walking the neighborhood. The $400,000 will go a long ways towards addressing that.
How many hours of overtime will $400,000 translate to per year?
Taking an average officers salary, we would look at nearly 7,000 hours of overtime; that is 6,918 to be specific. That is approximately 1,730 four-hour blocks of overtime, which is typically how the overtime is spent.
What happens if the department doesn't use the $400,000?
The technical answer is that it would go back to the general fund but it would be my hope we would have it held over for the next year. The referendum is only for three years so it would be nice if there is extra money we could use for years past that or keep that money for a designated police purpose for the community.
The Council also approved an additional $200,000 for police overtime this year, in addition to $726,000 in the 2008 budget. How are you using that?
Our overtime hit us hard starting last January and February when there was a flu epidemic and we were forced to fill some of the shifts with overtime. Then there was a robbery spike on the south side, burglary spikes and search warrants executed around the city.
I spent a good share of that money through borrowing from the personnel budget even before the City Council gave the department the money. I was able to do that because we had a large amount of police turnover this year. Now I am able to repay the money to the personnel budget.
The City Council's original referendum suggested hiring additional police officers instead of funding overtime. Why is funding overtime better?
First and foremost my immediate concern will be next spring. The crime rate will start up again and it would take me too long to get (new) officers out on the street. They wouldn't be here until about September of next year. Also if the city elected to give us 10 or 11 officers over the next few years, they would be looking for the department to drop back down eventually.
If the referendum passes will it affect the crime spike? Is it a guarantee?
In some ways we can influence it and make the crime rate go lower. However there are a lot of economic forces out there that are beyond our control. I think the important thing is for us to meet the crime spike head-on. Can we diminish it? Maybe a little bit. But can we stop it entirely? I don't think so.
How would a "no" vote affect the department?
I can see the city voting a "no" vote not because of distrust in the police department or distrust in the way we conduct our operation. But with the way the economy is … they may refuse to fund any referendum. If they should have a "no" vote on the referendum then of course a lot of the patrols that I talked about, like the bikes and the foot patrols, we'll be unable to do. Also the department will not have the turnover that it did this year and I will not be able to borrow from the personnel budget.
BREAKOUT!!!!!
Question: "Shall the City of Racine be allowed to exceed the levy limit and increase the levy for the next fiscal year and for each fiscal year in which a levy limit is imposed by the stage from now through 2010, by a total of $400,000 additional dollars per annum over the levy limit for the purpose of creating a "special initiatives overtime" line item in the police department budget?"
What your vote means:
YES
A Yes vote will authorize the city to vote to increase its tax levy by up to $400,000 for each of the next three years, which would allow the police to work more overtime.
NO
A No vote will limit the city tax levy to the amount regulated by state statute. The police department will not receive an additional $400,000 for special initiatives overtime.