Mill levy proposed for Ronan Police

By MEGAN STRICKLAND

Daily Inter Lake

The taxpayers of Ronan will get to vote November about whether or not they would like to boost funding for the city’s police department.

A public safety mill levy has been added to the Nov. 8 ballot. The proposed levy would raise more than $85,000 in its first year and would be used for police department improvement, Police Chief Ken Weaver said.

“What it’s going to do is make us a full-time police department,” Weaver said. “I consider us a part-time police department. I can’t staff my shifts with the current level of people I have.”

Right now, Weaver and four officers provide police coverage for the City of Ronan. The department needs one more officer to be able to guarantee that an officer is on duty at all times, Weaver said.

“I think the citizens of Ronan deserve to have a full-time police department,” he said.

The mill would cost someone with a $50,000 home about 10 cents per day, Weaver said. A $200,000 home’s tax bill under the new permanent levy would total around 40 cents per day.

In addition to funding an additional salary, the funds would be used to create a fund to save for patrol cars. Currently all of the

patrol cars have at least 100,000 miles on them, Weaver said.

Additionally, the funds will be used to help create a pay ladder that will give officers an incentive to stay with the department.

“We don’t want them to leave once they get trained to go to a higher paying police department,” Weaver said.

Shortly after Weaver arrived, one of the department’s officers left Ronan for a police job on the eastern side of the state that was paying $7 per hour more. While Weaver does not expect to be able to provide that kind of salary increase, he hopes the mill levy will help the department offer salaries that are in line with what other law enforcement agencies pay in Lake County.

Weaver will speak about the mill levy at his monthly Coffee with the Chief meeting at 9 a.m. at Dobson Creek Coffee on Aug. 26.