Question from Anonymous
Mayor, if the city is haveing problems coming up with money to fund the Haz duty. Why couldnt you charge a fee for every false alarm call that the Police respond to every day? ive heard that there are more than 12 calls a day for business that have false alarms, what do you think abotu that?
Steve Connelly answered:
I am not sure the City would want automatically to charge for a false alarm. But you may have a point if there are repeated false alarms from a certain location. This would, however, probably be viewed as a charge to deter false alarms rathern than as a revenue raiser. But the idea bears examination.
As to your underlying question whether the City can afford hazardous retirement, I think the City could pay this cost if the council decided that hazardous retirement is a priority. I personally advote increasing taxes to provide this retirement, along with aliving wage, in order not to sacrifice the programs and projects that the City already has on the table.
Perhaps it makes sense to raise property taxes to pay for hazardous retirement because buildings and property owners clearly benefit from fire and police protection. Other citizens also benefit from police and fire services, but property owners have a real nexus to the service. Implementing hazardous retirmenet and funding a living wage could be done if the commitment is there to provide the benefit.
As to your underlying question whether the City can afford hazardous retirement, I think the City could pay this cost if the council decided that hazardous retirement is a priority. I personally advote increasing taxes to provide this retirement, along with aliving wage, in order not to sacrifice the programs and projects that the City already has on the table.
Perhaps it makes sense to raise property taxes to pay for hazardous retirement because buildings and property owners clearly benefit from fire and police protection. Other citizens also benefit from police and fire services, but property owners have a real nexus to the service. Implementing hazardous retirmenet and funding a living wage could be done if the commitment is there to provide the benefit.