Polson police asking for special levy

The Polson police department is asking for voters' help next Thursday, to the tune of about $130,000 per year, as the department looks to upgrade its pay scale and resources with the help of a mil levy request.

The department is asking for 19.95 mils, which would be about $65 per $100,000 assessed home value, and the money will be used to bring Polson's salary range for police officers up so that the department can compete with the Lake County Sheriff's office and other law enforcement agencies nearby.

"Over the past year we've lost two officers to the Sheriff's office and one to the city of Missoula. The Lake County Sheriff's office is offering about $2.30 per hour more for starting wages, although the benefits are about the same," said mayor Randy Ingram. "The big thing is the starting wage."

But there are other needs, too. The department would like to add an additional officer to its staff, after having to pay a lot of overtime over the past year to fill shifts, Ingram said. Having officers work too much overtime is also a safety issue, too, he said.

"We'd like to minimize the amount of time an officer is on call by themselves," Ingram said.

If passed, the levy would also go toward equipment upgrades, including replacing the department's aging fleet of vehicles, Ingram said. Ultimately the police department would like to replace one vehicle a year, starting with the several ones that have more than 100,000 miles on them already.

"This would allow us to change out our fleet about every 10 years," he said. "We have three vehicles that need to be replaced right now."

The department recently received a grant for mobile data terminals, which aid in communication between vehicles and dispatch, allowing officers to check on vehicle and driver information more efficiently. However, those terminals require "air cards" which are similar to paying for cell phone service, and cost approximately $40 per month per unit, Ingram said, for a total of $4,800 for the city's 10 officers.

But the city's biggest frustration is its investment in officers, only to watch them head out the door for better paying jobs after a year or two. Ingram said he doesn't blame them for wanting higher pay, but that the city needs to become more competitive with other agencies in order to retain officers.

Given the money invested in training them, it benefits taxpayers and the city to retain those officers in the long run, Ingram noted.

Under current policy, if the city pays for the officer's training at the state's law enforcement academy, then the officer owes the city three years of service. However, if they pay for it themselves, they are free to leave at any time.

If passed, the mil levy would be permanent, meaning residents would fund it annually with their tax assessment without voting on it in future years.