Aurora – A property tax increase to pay for more police officers and two new fire stations will be put on the Nov. 1 ballot, but the city won’t ask voters to change the staffing levels within the Police Department.
The City Council on Monday voted 9-1 to put the matter on the ballot, asking voters to increase property taxes by four mills, or $80 on a $250,000 house, which would raise roughly $10.4 million a year. Councilman Ryan Frazier was the lone no vote.
The tax would pay for public safety, specifically hiring more police officers to help the city comply with a voter mandate of providing two officers for every 1,000 residents. It would also pay to build a fire station in the Murphy Creek subdivision and staff a fire station in the Eagle Bend subdivision that’s already built but remains out of service.
The council rejected two other ordinances that would have allowed the city to change the two-officers-per-1,000 mandate, which voters passed in 1993.
One ordinance the council vetoed would have changed the ratio to 1.7 officers for every 1,000 residents.
Officials say without the tax hike, cuts will be necessary in city services such as parks, libraries and public works.
The problem, some city leaders say, is the two-per-1,000 program isn’t properly funded. A 0.25 percent sales tax increase was supposed to provide adequate support, but the city has grown while the retail market has slumped. At the end of last year, the city had 1.95 officers for every 1,000 residents.
A court order that goes into effect next year requires the city to bring the ratio in line. The program will be $10 million in the hole by the end of the year, and the city must hire at least 24 new police officers for 2006 to hit the ratio, said Aurora budget officer Mike Trevithick.
Police officers in the audience were relieved the council didn’t change the ratio. Don James, president of the Aurora Police Association, warned the council that decreasing staff levels is dangerous.
“Crime goes up, calls for services increase,” he said, reminding the council of the particularly violent summer of 1993. “That was when the two-per-1,000 passed. We all remember the summer of violence. All it would take is one more summer like that. It would be the war zone of the West. I’m not sure the council would like to see that.”
Council member Bob Broom said asking the city to raise property taxes is reasonable. He found a property tax bill from 1977, when Aurora taxpayers paid about 15 mills rather than the 11 mills on their homes today. His property taxes due at the end of the month are about $174, only $30 more than they were 28 years ago, he said.
“That doesn’t seem to be such an onerous tax bill on my house,” he said.
“I’m paying five times as much for cable as I am for police and fire.”
Staff writer Jeremy Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1175 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com.
