Since 2008, the city of Snohomish has been challenged with decreasing revenues. As the city prepares for the 2012 estimated budget, similar challenges are evident.
There are various ways to find the means to establish a balanced budget for 2012 and staff and council are analyzing them now. Wa
ys such as determining the amount of dollars to be kept in the ending fund balance, elimination or reduction of certain services, layoff of personnel, and outsourcing of services such as our police department.
Staff has determined there can be a savings of approximately $375,000 (about 10 percent of the annual police budget) if the city were to disband the Snohomish Police Department and contract with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. The city would sell off police equipment and commissioned police officers would become Snohomish County deputy sheriffs. A contract would be in place for three years, negotiable on costs and agreed-upon services every three years.
This is the time we, as citizens, must ask ourselves how to balance the things we value, things that define our community, with the reality of the economic pressures we are experiencing. We face tough times now but we know sometime in the future there will be improvement.
Instead of us asking ourselves if we would support a local police department by assessment of property taxes, let’s first ask ourselves if we support a local police department. Understanding we have supported a local police department for 152 years, we can conclude our community does support local, autonomous law enforcement. Snohomish has a long history of supporting local government. Given this history, it is fair to say that we value maintaining “local” control when it comes to public safety. Outsourcing law enforcement to the county is a bad idea.
A property tax assessment is not something anyone wants to see. For many years, the City Council, past and present, has chosen to not raise property taxes as allowed under existing state law. Instead those unused increases have been “banked” as a potential source of city revenue. The banked capacity is a reserve should revenues be needed for something important and integral to our community.
For the owner of an averaged priced home in Snohomish, it would equal about $1.75 increase per week to keep our police department. However, property tax is not the only option available to the city in balancing the budget. The City Council, as it works with city staff, has a huge challenge and responsibility to find ways to balance the budget for this coming year. The majority of the city’s revenue stream is through sales tax and there will be another look at the latest trends soon. It is not a given that there will be an assessment and the hope is the city can find a path where that could be taken off the table. But there can be no guarantee.
The $375,000 savings figure that has been highlighted reflects the cost of managing our own police department and is not a number to be taken lightly. Administering any significant department at any level of government is costly. However, if we outsourced our police department, we would never again be in a position of strength to negotiate future contracts. County governments face the same revenue shortfall issues as cities and we would no longer be in control of negotiating salaries and benefits for the police force. We would basically have to accept whatever terms the county would propose three years from now.
Let’s not meet these budget challenges by making an irreversible decision to outsource our police department to the county sheriff’s department. Make no mistake, there will be no going back. There will be neither the funding nor the will to reinstate a local police department.
Let’s avoid wrong decision making by moving cautiously and thoughtfully with regard to the things we as a community value. We can all agree that the decision to maintain our police force is not the easy decision. In fact, it is the toughest of all. But it is the right decision.
In 2006 our community developed a strategic plan to guide us through our next 20 years and further into our city’s future. In one succinct phrase the plan defines our values: “Promoting Vitality and Preserving Character.” These are equal values. The plan is visionary and sets a strategy that will secure our values for generations to come.
Our police department is an integral part of our strategic plan and represents one of the threads that binds us together. Character cannot be outsourced. We are all stewards of our city and have a responsibility to honor our past, present and to keep a steady eye on our future. We owe it to our families and the next generation who will choose to live in Snohomish, a quality place that matters.
These are the personal opinions of Melody Clemans and Lynn Schilaty, who are both currently Snohomish City Council members and life-long residents of Snohomish. Their opinion is not intended to reflect the opinion of the collective Snohomish City Council.
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