By David Warren–
At the 8 July City Council meeting, the City approved resolutions (1) adopting the memorandums of understanding for the Citrus Heights Police Officers’ Association and the Citrus Heights Police Employees Association; (2) the amended salary table with cost-of-living adjustments and select market equity adjustments; (3) and amendments to the employer contribution level for employee health benefits; a word salad for the salary agreement between the sworn (police officers) and unsworn employees of the Citrus Heights Police Department (CHPD).
Within the numerous pages of the documents is an unnerving fact, employee reductions in both classifications. The number of police officers is being reduced by 9.5 full-time equivalents (positions) which may not seem a large number, but one only compare the draconian reduction to the total number of CHPD staff.
What is most striking and concerning is the complete termination of motor (motorcycle) traffic enforcement officers by the transfer of their positions to patrol, i.e., the officers that respond to calls for service. The justification for the staffing reductions is/was budget limitations.
Even under the best of circumstances, municipal budget issues are never easy. For Citrus Heights, the dramatic decline of sales tax revenue by the loss of the “cash cow” that was the Sunrise Mall without other compensating revenue sources has exacerbated the City’s budgeting difficulties. However, as a resident, I object to the City Council and City Manager’s assumption that residents place a higher value on “no tax increases” over public safety. One need look no farther than the passage of the 2024 Measure O which approved a $415 million bond issue for Sacramento Metro Fire to purchase replacement fire equipment and structures.
I am not an expert on Citrus Heights road safety issues. I typically drive on six streets, Greenback, Dewey/Van Maren, Auburn Blvd./Sylvan Rd., San Juan Ave., Sunrise and Antelope. I routinely see individuals driving both dangerously and in excess of the speed limit on these streets, in a number of instances actually racing when a traffic signal turned green. As a consequence of the approved motor officer reductions, there will be no officers on motorcycles with radar devices to (a) be a visible deterrent and (b) to issue speeding citations to enforce municipal speed limits. This reallocation is just plain wrong.
Studies have repeatedly shown that the fear of being caught committing a crime is a greater deterrent than the severity of the sanction. The loss of traffic enforcement officers enlarges public safety risk because they will no longer be visible as a deterrent.
The City’s most important task is to ensure public safety, whether it be in the maintenance of sidewalks and roads, repair of potholes, inspecting building construction or law enforcement. Yet when it came time decide how the City’s limited income should be allocated, full funding of municipal services took a back seat to meritorious but quality of lifestyle budget items such as the chamber of commerce, municipal murals, etc.
There is/was an alternative to spending reductions, i.e., increase revenue. As individuals, if there is not enough revenue to meet expense, we increase our income by taking on additional work to increase revenue. The budget places too much reliance upon both sales tax and permit revenues to be a reliable source of income. In good financial times, when police services are not as much in demand, revenue from both sources is reliable. In bad financial times, when police services are in greater demand, both sources of revenue decrease because residents have less to spend.
In order to assure a constant revenue source for public safety services, a more reliable source of revenue should be implemented by the City, i.e., an ad valorem tax, meaning a tax based on the assessed value of real property. The City could continue to negotiate wage packages for both sworn and unsworn CHPD staff for two or more periods going forward, and have the County assess and collect the tax necessary to pay for the police department as part of a property tax assessment. In this way, the City Council would set the wage and staffing levels as are necessary for public safety, including equipment and office space required, based upon service requirements rather than “hoped” for revenue.
A secondary effect of the assurance of staffing levels will be the reduction of staff turnover so that the institutional knowledge gained in training is not lost by staff leaving based upon job insecurity. The long-term fiscal savings are obvious.
Of greater concern should be that the City Council failed to reach out to the community, i.e., more than those individuals who attend the Chamber of Commerce, to determine whether the electorate would rather pay a small tax increase either directly or indirectly through rent rather than incur staff reductions at the police department.
I proffer that the deterrence effect of a larger number of police officers, and the support staff and equipment they require, will cost each of us far less than the cost of crime which was not deterred by the absence of police officers on patrol, responding to incidents, or being seen undertaking traffic control/speed enforcement. The City Council should not have underestimated the ability of taxpayers to support a tax increase to support public safety.
The City Council should take immediate action to correct this budgeting mistake.
David Warren is Citrus Heights resident, and has worked as a legislative advocate at the State Capitol with Taxpayers for Public Safety. He currently serves as a consultant.
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