Public safety grant hangs in limbo
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RONAN – The town is sitting on a chunk of change that it can’t use, although the May 2nd election will decide what happens to it.
The federal government awarded the town $124,311 in 2016 to hire an additional police officer for three years through the COPS Hiring Grant, but it comes with a stipulation — the community needs to show investment in the project by providing $41,437 to retain an officer for a fourth year.
If the town doesn’t come up with their share of the funding, they have to let go of the grant. “It would be really hard to give it up,” Police Chief Ken Weaver said.
The Ronan City Council decided that a Public Safety Mill Levy would be the best way to raise funding to keep the grant and raise money for equipment. Chief Weaver explained that a mill levy is a tax rate that is applied to the assessed value of a property. A home with an assessed market value of $100,000 would be taxed $74.25 per year, which divides into 20 cents a day. The mill levy would continue each year to support the department until the city council votes to end it.
The Public Safety Mill Levy is for fifty-five mills per year. If voters pass the levy, it will raise approximately $85,350 a year to be used with the COPS Hiring Grant, create a salary ladder, secure funding for police equipment, and increase a capital improvements fund.
This isn’t the first time the issue was put on the ballot. The town was almost forced to give the grant money back in 2016 after the levy failed by six votes with 317 voting against and 311 voting for it. The federal government allowed the town to hold onto the grant for one more election cycle.
“It didn’t fail by a landslide and that tells me that we have strong support for it,” Chief Weaver said.
He said raising taxes isn’t a popular issue, but the town needs to have law enforcement coverage. He says if the city doesn’t have enough officers to cover the town, the Sheriff’s Office and Tribal Law step in and provide coverage. He wants the Ronan Police Department to be able to provide 24-hour coverage so other agencies are freed up to focus on places without a police department.
Chief Weaver spent time talking to people after the last election to find out what they didn’t like about the levy. He said people reported that they didn’t want their taxes to go up. He asked people to consider what public safety was worth, noting that a cup of coffee costs more per taxpayer each day than an additional officer.
People told the chief that there isn’t enough room in the county jail for more arrests, so why get another officer to arrest more people?
“We do more than arrest people,” Chief Weaver said. He listed a number of things police officers do that don’t involve taking a person to jail, including processing crime scenes, accidents, and break ins.
Chief Weaver also heard people say that Ronan is on a reservation and tribal police should respond to any issues. He says that the law enforcement agencies on the reservation all work together, and he, again, said that if Ronan police can respond to the issues in town then other agencies can focus on areas with less coverage.
The Ronan Police Department currently has four officers and one chief dividing a week between the night and the day shift. The chief says he can almost get by if his officers never take a day off, get additional training or take time for military duties. The officers also work overtime, which earns them compensatory time off instead of extra pay, but they can’t take that time off if there aren’t enough officers to cover the town.
“This is a busy town and it’s growing,” he said. “We need another officer to give the town 24-hour coverage.”
Chief Weaver invites people to contact him with questions or concerns. He said people are welcome to attend his monthly “Coffee with the Chief” events located at various places. The next event is at 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 11 at the new Revive Coffee shop on Highway 93 in Ronan.
More information about the department is now available online at www.cityofronan.com/departments/ police-department.
