By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph city residents will decide a half-cent sales tax proposal in November, an increase in the city sales tax aimed specifically at raising St. Joseph police salaries.
City Manager Bryan Carter says the tax hike which is estimated to generate $5.5 million a year will help the city attract and retain police officers.
“We’ve heard about the problem that exists in law enforcement recruiting,” Carter tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “As that problem has gotten worse over the last several years, the cost of law enforcement has gone up. The cost of enticing people to go into that field, enticing people to stay in that field in a time when it’s becoming more challenging, that cost has gone up.”
The City Council voted to place the issue on the ballot to pay for the agreement it reached with the Fraternal Order of Police to increase officer pay, increasing the starting salary for a police officer to $49,000. The city also agreed to a 3% annual increase in salaries.
Carter says the measure will meet more than just immediate needs.
“The design of it is to make sure that we are set up for the long term, to ensure that we have a quality police staff and a much more full police staff, that we have enough people out on the streets to keep you and I protected,” Carter says.
The St. Joseph Police Department has more than 20 vacancies. The department is authorized for 138 commissioned officers.
Carter says the problem the St. Joseph Police Department has experienced with vacancies isn’t unique.
“I was just actually at a conference, a Missouri Municipal League conference, over the weekend and one of the points that came up from a lot of communities was they are seeing those same challenges; challenges getting people in the door,” Carter says. “And they discussed the efforts they’re going through to keep the folks they have, who’ve been with them and dedicated to their communities for such a period of time.”
The half-cent sales tax increase proposal will appear on the November 8th ballot.