Impact report research on city services questioned

Editor,

The Polson City Council voted Nov. 7 to include emergency services, such as police and fire, in the scope of the report on impacts to city services of a Wal-Mart Super Center, with Councilmen Clavadetscher, Marchello and Corse in favor. On Monday, March 6, the Council voted unanimously to accept the impact report without this research into emergency services, except for the local chief (of police) calling other chiefs around the state.

The impact report gives the city a heads-up as to what additional costs might accrue to the city, so that these may be charged to the developer, rather than paid for by citizen tax increases. You benefit as a taxpayer if the city carefully considers all costs, so that Wal-Mart will pay for them instead of you.

I called attention to police impacts not because I have any lack of confidence in the abilities of the department, but because many other chiefs of police have stated that their departments did require additional personnel after a Super Center came to their towns. In Harrisburg, Utah, "Calls to the local police department climbed by one-third following the opening of a Wal-Mart Super Center, forcing the town to hire two more officers." (AP, 5/22/04)

Police Chief Kim Wolfe, "If we had known the number of calls, we probably would have considered an increase in officers. We just had no idea what it would be like. It doesn't matter what time of day or night, we get calls there."

In other communities, "arrests at Wal-Mart contributed to a 24 percent rise in the crime rate," "one in four arrests are made at Wal-Mart," "the town reported over 400 police calls a year from a Wal-Mart supercenter."

The impact report was an opportunity to accurately research and evaluate information that would lead the council and the city planning office to appropriately assess impact fees, at no additional cost to the city.

Carolyn Beecher

Ronan