Photo Credit - City of Plymouth
The City of Plymouth wants to hear from citizens regarding funding solutions for public safety.
The City announced in March that they need to hire additional police officers to manage rising incidents in its growing community.
As part of that announcement, they also noted that the Plymouth Police Department has not added a single sworn position to its staff since 1992, despite the City’s population growing by 30% in that time.
It is believed that the addition of five new officers and the purchase of additional squad cars to accommodate them would add over $1 million to Plymouth’s annual budget, and now, they are in the process of figuring out how to fund this change.
Part of that process will be sending out surveys to residents this week to receive public input on how to pay for these new positions at the police department.
In their original announcement, the City outlined two paths to funding, including a referendum to exceed the state-imposed property tax levy limits or the implementation of a municipal wheel tax.
Regarding these surveys, Plymouth Police Chief Ken Ruggles said, “Resident input will help inform future decisions about service priorities and the most responsible ways to support and fund those needs.”
The public safety funding surveys must be completed no later than April 27th.
