AURORA — Voters will not be asked in November to do away with a tax that funds adding police officers based on the city’s population or to lower the ratio of hiring.
The requirement of having two officers for every 1,000 residents was passed by voters in 1993, who also approved a quarter-cent sales tax to hire more officers.
But city officials acknowledge that the tax is not able to keep up with the population growth.
And with the current shape of the economy, Aurora, like other cities, is looking at new revenue sources to fund existing services and cutting services such as libraries.
The Public Safety and Courts Committee talked about the issue but decided it needed to gather more information before potentially putting anything on a ballot.
That could happen maybe next year, when the council could ask voters to lower the hiring ratio, get rid of it altogether or find another funding source for police.
“It’s pretty clear to everybody right now that the 0.25 percent tax doesn’t even fund the police manpower,” said Councilwoman Melissa Miller, who is on the public safety committee.
Miller said the committee agreed to have a comprehensive cost analysis done for all areas of public safety — including courts and police vehicles — and present the full council with its findings.
The sales tax raises about $9 million annually and has paid for about 125 police officers. The department has about 620 police officers.
Don James, president of the Aurora Police Association union, noted that crime has decreased over the past decade and that the increased police staffing played a role in that.
He acknowledged that the percentage of the city’s overall general fund budget for police is increasing and will continue to rise.
Even so, he said, lowering the ratio or doing away with the requirement altogether is not the way to go.
“As long as there is not an attempt to eliminate or modify staffing levels, we’re OK with that,” James said. “We believe the staffing mandate passed by the citizens is an appropriate mandate and should be retained.”
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
