Helena officials consider asking taxpayers to fund additional emergency services

The Helena City Commission is considering whether to ask voters to approve added taxes to pay for a new fire station and additional police officers and firefighters. 

The heads of the local police and fire departments recently told commissioners that more staffing, a new fire station and a training facility are necessary to adequately protect Helena’s growing population. The city’s current funding for emergency services is not sufficient, the commission was told.  

During a city commission administrative meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 17, city staff and the fire and police departments presented three options that detail different levels of spending for additional personnel and facilities. 

If the third — and most expensive — option totaling about $9.9 million for both departments is forwarded by the commission and approved by voters, homeowners whose property is valued at $400,000 should expect to pay about $170 more each year in taxes. If the property is valued at $600,000, taxes would rise annually about $256, according to city staff.

If the least expensive option for the departments is chosen, owners whose property is valued at $400,000 would pay about an additional $43 in taxes each year, and a property valued at $600,000 would pay about $64.

The Helena Police Department is asking for between three and nine additional officers. According to the presentation made to commissioners, the cost of employing one officer starts at $209,951 each year, including salary, benefits, training, equipment and a shared vehicle.

Currently, the police department lacks enough patrol officers to respond to the growing number of calls for assistance, and officers are often pulled from other divisions to meet the demand, Police Chief Brett Petty told Montana Free Press. The department also needs three more detectives to specifically handle online crimes and crimes targeting children, Petty said. 

“We’ve basically carried the same amount of officers, in between low 50s to mid-50s for sworn personnel. As [the] population has increased, as the size of Helena has increased, we’ve stayed with the same [numbers] over the 20 years. We have not continued with the growth,” Petty said. “The calls for service, the report calls, the amount of reports officers are writing and detectives are writing, [our staffing] hasn’t kept up. It keeps trending higher.”

The fire department recommends in the most expensive option that the city add a third fire station and training facility with an estimated cost of $6.9 million and hire 15 more firefighters. The less expensive options call for hiring fewer firefighters and renovating a current station. 

“We’ve come through some analysis of what the community’s needs are, what the department’s capabilities are, and we’re in the process of presenting those to the commission so they can make a policy level determination about what level of service we’ll be providing in the future, and how to establish funding for that level of service,” Helena Fire Chief Jon Campbell told MTFP.

Since 2000, Helena’s population has grown by about 9,000 people, according to a city report. A mill levy that would have funded 10 fire personnel and two police officers failed in 2008. A decade later, Helena voters approved a mill levy that helped fund six firefighters. Currently, the police department employs 54 sworn personnel with 32 patrol officers, and the fire department has about 21 firefighters, not including its ranking officers.

Although both police and fire departments are maintaining the necessary services, City Commissioner Emily Dean said sustaining operations for the future will be an issue.

“Our grandparents and parents, I think had the foresight to invest in our community’s future needs when they made the choice to build station two in 1979. And now 45 years later, I would think that it’s our responsibility to have that same foresight to invest in the safety of our community,” Dean told MTFP. “We have a need, and It’s our responsibility to present that need to the voters. The demand is not going to go down. We aren’t just planning for today. We’re planning for the next 20 years.”

The commission will discuss the options for additional taxes at an administrative meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 7, at 4 p.m. If the commission eventually approves the request, voters will be asked to weigh in during an election in June.

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