Voters to decide on Republic’s safety

Proposition S on Aug. 3 ballot would pay for extra police, firefighters
 
 
When Republic voters go to the polls on Tuesday, Aug. 3, they will be asked to approve Proposition S, a
3/4-cent sales tax that would be used exclusively to fund the city’s police and fire departments.
Understaffing a problem:
According to information found on the city’s website, both the police and fire departments are
understaffed. The police department has 24 officers to serve about 18,000 residents, or 1.3 officers per
1,000 residents in the city, about 12 officers short of what the city should have by national standards. By
comparison, Ozark has 37 officers to serve 19,400 residents, and Nixa has 42 officers to serve 22,500
residents; both Nixa and Ozark average 1.9 officers per 1,000 residents. Likewise, the fire department
currently has 20 firefighters, while Ozark has 30 and Nixa has 33.
More staff members are necessary, according to information provided by the city, because both
departments constantly experience “blackouts,” times where no on-call officers or firefighters are able to
respond to calls within the city. The Republic Police was blacked out for a total of 38 hours between Jan.
1 and March 4 of this year, while the fire department was blacked out on 27 separate occasions between
Jan. 1 and March 27. During blackout periods, the police department is dependent on assistance from
the Greene County Sheriff’s Office and neighboring municipal police departments; likewise, the fire
department relies on “auto aid or mutual aid” from neighboring fire departments during blackout periods.
Jared Keeling, assistant city administrator/parks director, said with Republic’s explosive growth, more
people are needed in both departments to keep the public safe.
“The city of Republic is significantly understaffed when it comes to police and fire personnel per national
standards and when compared to regional municipalities/districts that are similar to us in size,” he said.
“No new positions have been added to either department since 2007, but our city has grown significantly
since then in terms of population, square miles, residential development, and commercial development.”
How funds from the sales tax would be used:
If the sales tax passes, the Republic Police Department will be able to add 12 staff members to the force.
This would include nine officers, one lieutenant, one detective and one police representative. The
Republic Fire Department would also be able to hire more staff; they would add 10 firefighters, three
battalion chiefs and a fire marshal.
Both departments would also increase their retirement benefits by nine-percent and periodically increase
wages, which the city said would allow them to remain competitive in attracting and hiring new people.
Keeling said the extra staff members, as well as increased pay and retirement benefits, have been
needed for some time, but without the sales tax, there is no way to pay for them.
“The lack of a dedicated funding mechanism for fire department operations has proved to be the largest
obstacle,” he said. “The city of Republic does not have a dedicated property tax for fire protection similar
to almost every other municipality or district in our area. Our desire to recruit and retain the very best
police officers and fire fighters possible to serve the citizens of Republic and the sales tax would provide
us a funding mechanism to do so.”
Impact of the sales tax:
If the sales tax is passed, the city’s total sales tax will increase from 8.35-percent to 9.1-percent. At
present, the city receives 2.375-percent sales tax on applicable purchases made within the city, while
Greene County receives 1.75-precent and the State of Missouri receives 4.225-percent.
The new sales tax would generate about $2.1 million for the police and fire departments in its first year,
and by year 10 would generate over $2.5 million. After 25 years, the sales tax would automatically
terminate.