Lifting the levy lid - again

CHENEY — The City Council is considering putting an ordinance on the November ballot to once again lift the property tax levy lid in order to fund public safety needs.

Council was schedule to debate and vote on the ordinance at its June 22 meeting.

Cheney voters originally approved lifting the lid from its then $2.40 per $1,000 of assessed property value to its maximum amount of $3.10 in 2015. The lift went into effect in 2016 — and over the past six years has generated almost $2.65 million in funding for police and fire needs.

The lift was intended to be permanent, but in November 2020, the state Auditor’s Office told the city state law only allows for six-year levies, not permanent lifts, thus invalidating Cheney’s continuation of the revenue collection, beginning in 2022. The decision leaves the city somewhat in limbo regarding some of its public safety funding.

“Without the levy lift, I’m not sure the police and fire departments would’ve survived,” Finance Director Cindy Niemeier told the council at a June 15 workshop to discuss several items, including the lid lift.

The levy lid lift has helped provide for a number of fire and police department needs since 2016. Perhaps the most visible of these is the Fire Department’s $867,000 main attack engine, purchased in 2018 with $300,000 of lid lift money and a $600,000 loan for the balance.

But the lift has also paid for items such as equipment training, station improvements and other equipment needs. Without the lift funding, Niemeier said other general fund accounts, such as parks and recreation, would likely have suffered in order for the city to fulfill the public safety requests.

But most critical right now are the items the city has an ongoing commitment to fund — and requirements coming up in the future. Cheney uses $331,730 of lid lift funding annually to pay for commitments such as $135,000 in salary and benefits for a police detective, $40,770 in debt service on the fire engine loan and $90,000 in equipment for volunteer firefighters.

The fire engine loan is paid off in 2031, and an annual payment of $24,160 for a loan to purchase Fire Department air packs will be paid off in 2024. But the other commitments, along with annual funding for things like Police Department ammunition, contracts and software and Fire Department Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) will remain.

And there’s the future. The Fire Department expects to need another replacement engine soon, for which $100,000 has already been put in savings from the lid lift.

But more immediate is the Police Department — which is under a ticking clock to install body cameras for its officers.

Substitute House Bill 1223 — passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Jay Inslee — requires any custodial interrogation of an adult for a felony offense or juvenile for any offense be electronically recorded. These interviews must be done via audio and video in jail cells, jails and law enforcement offices and via audio at minimum at all other locations.

These requirements go into effect Jan. 1, 2022, and while they don’t specifically mention body cameras, Cheney Police Chief John Hensley said it’s the position of the Washington Association of Sheriff’s and Police Chiefs (WASPC) that these devices are the best way to go.

“The Legislature didn’t come right out and say, ‘you must have body cameras,’ but they walked right up to the line and said that you had to record these both audio and video and so the most reasonable way to do that, quite frankly, is through body cameras,” Hensley told the council during a May 25 presentation.

Hensley has made several body presentations to council, including one in January and the one in May. Each time, while supportive, the council has hesitated to pull the switch on a purchase, asking for more specific costs as well as questioning the financial sustainability of such a program, especially in light of the state’s decision invalidating the levy lid lift.

At the May meeting, Hensley provided hard quotes by Axon — who also supplies and services the department’s Tasers. The basic program — TAP — runs $80,000 over five years for 14 body cameras and accessories, along with 10,000 gigabytes of storage.

There are additional charges for Apple iPhones (one-time, $2,000), $9,000 over five years for Verizon to provide information upload capabilities and $6,000 over five years in program contingencies. There are also costs for training and public records management.

The city has already approved purchase of public records software enabling the redaction of individual faces and identifying marks from downloaded video.

“We’re in the ballpark of what we thought this program was going to cost,” Hensley told the council.

Cheney’s police chief has been advocating for a body camera program, noting that while Cheney “does policing the right way” it’s an opportunity to increase accountability and trust with the community — and particularly the Eastern Washington University community that may have some students who have not had a positive experience with law enforcement.

It’s also a program that, levy lid lift or not, the city will likely need to find some way to finance in the future.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].