City of Marion officials say they have a plan to bring back officers after voters approved a tax increase in November, but stressed that officers will only be added as increased revenue comes in and that process may be slow in the beginning.
Dave Troutman, a detective with the Marion Police Department and chairman of the Blue Unit bargaining unit, asked about those plans during the Marion City Council Finance Committee meeting on Tuesday, December 18.
Marion Mayor Scott Schertzer said the administration’s goal is to look at the end of each quarter at the revenue coming in from the tax increase and bring back officers in turn. As required by union contracts, the officers will be brought back according to seniority. Schertzer said that one officer has already been asked to come back and will be on duty as of January 1, 2013. The first officer in seniority declined to return.
Troutman asked why, if two people were originally offered their job back and one declined, an additional officer hadn’t been asked to return. Tom Robbins, City of Marion Safety Director, said they initially asked two officers to return as part of the rules required by the union contracts. He said they were pretty sure the first officer in line would decline the offer to return. So to make sure the process moved along in time to bring back the officer on January 1, he went ahead and also made an offer to the next officer in line. Robbins said they only ever wanted to fill one position and were “hedging their bets.”
Tom Bell, Marion Police Chief, said he has had a lot of meetings with the administration and they have had to adjust their plans in order to not get ahead of revenue.
“We see the need to get people back as soon as we can,” stated Chief Bell, saying he was still hoping to speed up the process. “I’m not a very patient person.”
Mayor Schertzer said they are also working on plans that would mean taking some revenues from other departments and moving them into to the Police Department. He said that would require some action by Council, but could speed up the process.
Robbins agreed with Bell and said his goal is to get officers back as quickly as possible, but stressed it must be done in a business-like manner. He said they have to be careful to make sure they have the revenue in hand to pay for salaries.
Council member Josh Daniels stated that with roughly $600,000 more in revenue this year than expected he doesn’t think the administration can continue to be as conservative with the finances.
“I’m an impatient personal also,” said Daniels.
Cathy Chaffin, Deputy City Auditor, said there has been some additional revenue already realized from the decreased income tax credit and as people prepare for the tax increase.
No action was taken by City Council, but all involved said they would continue to push the issue along to get officers back quickly.
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