Legislature passes police millage bill
- 4/21/11
- Categorized in: DeKalb News, Politics
DeKalb County property taxpayers will soon be able to see how much they are paying for police services.
On the last day of the 2011 legislative session, the Georgia State Senate gave DeKalb County the authority to list the millage rate for basic and non-basic police services as separate line items on the county’s property tax bill.
House Bill 607, which authorizes the change, was passed 50-0 by the Senate. If signed by Gov. Nathan Deal, the police millage rates will be detailed on the 2011 property tax bills.
In the line items, basic police services will be composed of services performed by the uniform division, traffic unit, park patrol, criminal investigation division and crime scene investigation unit of the DeKalb County police department.
Non-basic police services will be composed of services performed by the aerial support unit, SWAT team, bomb squad unit, intelligence and permits, K-9 division, gang task force, drug task force, homeland security and emergency management division of the police department.
The police millage bill was a top priority on the county’s Board of Commissioners’ legislative agenda for this year.
“Public safety is of utmost importance to county residents, and this bill provides assurance to our citizens that their tax dollars used to fund the critical mission of our police department will be protected from crippling budget cuts during the tough financial times facing our county,” Commissioner Lee May said.
Commissioner Larry Johnson said the bill was a good step for the county.
“We have heard what our constituents want and are pleased that the state legislature has moved to make this happen,” Johnson said.
Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton said the bill “will provide the county another tool to continue to provide the best public safety services for our citizens.”
The bill also allows the county to “show our deep appreciation and commitment to the men and women in our police department,” Commissioner Stan Watson said.
“I will call the governor to ask him to sign the bill,” Watson added.
Jeff Wiggs, president of the DeKalb Fraternal Order of Police, said he hopes the bill’s passage “will restore the money that is needed for first responders.”
A designated millage rate for police services is good, but it depends on the rate at which the Board of Commissioners sets the millage, Wiggs said.
“We’re hoping they will do the right thing and restore our budget,” Wiggs said.
In February the Board of Commissioners voted to cut $33.64 million from the administration’s proposed budget to avoid a tax increase. In that vote, the police department’s budget was cut by 4.46 percent.
The Elected Officials of DeKalb County seem to find a way to take care of their PETS paying secretaries and Administraitive Assistants two and three times what a Police Officer makes ! Fat Cat salaries in the CEO's office are an insult to the Police Officers of DeKalb !
Just the Legal Fees alone that DeKalb County is paying out every year would fund a good Police Dept.
This law would allow the commissioners (but not even mandate them to) create a separate line in your property tax bill for police services, which you already pay for. This would mean that commissioners would have to explicitly cut funds from the police services budget, instead of just including police services in countywide cuts.
That's good in the same way that the property assessment freeze forces commissioners to raise the millage rate, rather than rely on over-inflated increases in home values by the tax assessor's office.
As Jeff Wiggs said in the article, it doesn't mean commissioners will actually increase funding for police services, and based on the commissioners' past behavior, I don't have high hopes for this move to immediately solve the budget problem as far as police services go, but it is a good step in the right direction.
In case you're not aware, morale in the police department is low. The list of grievances is too long for me to list right now, but you should know that the fire department already has this same line-item status, and if you are in favor of protecting fire and police from budget cuts as much as possible, then you should actually suppport this legislation.