Tax revenue would boost police service

The question is (or maybe not so) simple: “shall the city of Independence impose a sales tax of three-eighths (3/8) of one percent, to be effective January 1, 2010, for the purpose of police services?”
Independence voters will decide Aug. 4 if the police services sales tax question is a good one. According to city officials, the tax, if passed, is projected to produce about $6 million annually and will be used to add a total of 60 police officers and civilian support staff to the Independence Police Department.
The police services sales tax would also fund police equipment, including vehicles; improved technologies to increase the efficiency of police operations; police department facilities, including improvement of existing facilities, construction and operation of a new precinct station near Centerpoint Hospital; prisoner housing; and overtime associated with more intense investigations.
According to city officials, the current tax rate citywide is 7.6 percent, of which Independence receives 2.25 percent. The remainder goes to other jurisdictions such as the state of Missouri and Jackson County. If approved, the police services sales tax would increase the city-wide tax by .375 percent to 7.975 percent, increasing the city’s share to 2.625 percent.
A citizen oversight committee would be responsible for monitoring the expenditures of the sales tax, much like an existing oversight committee monitors the use of funds from the current 1/8 of one percent public safety sales tax that applies only to the capital needs of both the Independence Police and Fire Departments. The new tax would be strictly for police services.
In response to questions about outside sources of funding for the Police Department, Council Member Lucy Young asked City Manager Robert Heacock in June to provide data on how much money the department has received in the last five or six years from local, state and federal grant programs.
The data showed that since the beginning of 2003, the IPD has received more than $14 million dollars in grant funds from various sources. That’s more than a 1/8 cents sales tax would have generated for the city in the same time frame, Heacock said, adding a 1/8 cents sales tax would have generated about $12 million.
“The city’s been very aggressive going out trying to identify sources of funding,” Heacock said.