The Grants Pass City Council has decided on the level of public safety services it wishes to provide, but it remains undecided on how to provide additional funding.
During its bi-weekly workshop session on Monday, the City Council was in favor of a phased-in level of service increase that will add 29 more full-time positions to the Grants Pass police and fire departments as well as parks and facilities maintenance over the next five years.
The Council voted 5-3 to approve the five-year plan in which an additional $1.5 to $1.8 million will be needed next year to fund three more police officers and a crime analyst. City Manager Aaron Cubic said staff recommended the stair-step option to keep employee health and morale high and to aid in employee recruiting and retention. The additional staffing increases would occur over five years.
Cubic unveiled the results of a public safety funding survey in which citizens voted for their preferences from among six potential options. He said the survey ran from November 20th-December 4th and 57% of the responses came via cell phones.
According to the survey results, the highest number of respondents chose the food & beverage tax, followed in order by reduced staffing, a public safety utility fee, a general sales tax, a utility fee plus food & beverage tax, and a utility fee plus sales tax. The Council immediately eliminated the reduced staffing option, vowing to do something to bolster public safety funding instead of nothing.
Nothing was decided by the City Council, but a majority of the panel favored a combination of the public safety utility fee and food & beverage tax. Four members favored a 2% general sales tax because it spreads the funding burden to more businesses and it includes non-residents helping to pay for public safety.
The Council plans to continue its public safety funding discussions during the January 8th workshop. City staff was instructed to provide concrete numbers for the funding options so a decision can be made as soon as possible.
