Q&A: Eau Claire going to referendum Nov. 8 for new public safety jobs

Oct. 7—EAU CLAIRE — In just over a month's time, Eau Claire voters will be asked if the city can increase property taxes by $1.45 million to hire 15 new public safety employees.

The jobs would add to the police and fire departments, which have both had stagnant staffing levels for years while Eau Claire has grown.

If approved by voters on Nov. 8, the referendum would add an estimated $45 to the property tax bill for a home valued at $200,000 in the city.

It's not alone on the ballot as the Eau Claire school district is asking voters to approve a referendum for $98.6 million. That one would add about $80 to the tax bill for the same home.

With two local funding referendums and a host of hotly-contested mid-term elections next month, it is expected to be a busy Election Day.

To get Eau Claire voters ready for it, the Leader-Telegram asked local officials, consulted documents and sought opinions from expert sources to answer several questions about the city's public safety referendum.

State-imposed property tax limits allow communities to increase their taxes by the same rate they grow through new construction. Why hasn't this provided Eau Claire with enough tax revenue to pay for these new positions?

While new construction brings residents, jobs and a bigger tax base to Eau Claire, the revenue formula for it doesn't keep pace with higher costs or demand for municipal services for a growing city.

"The net new construction formula allows a small increase in our budget to accommodate the new services required. However, due to inflation, costs are greater each year than the net new construction allowable percent," City Manager Stephanie Hirsch said in an email to the Leader-Telegram.

At the same time, the amount that communities get from the state through income or sales taxes has long been declining.

Since 2000, inflation has gone up by 55% while state funding to Eau Claire has fallen by 19%, Hirsch noted.

How can the city plan to do $40 million in capital projects next year, but not be able to hire 15 new public safety employees for $1.45 million?

The city's projects plan includes items of lasting value, such as bridges, buildings, vehicles, bullet-proof vests, plows and utility infrastructure. These projects will be paid through a variety of sources, including borrowing, grants and one-time funding.

But it's separate from operational expenses, namely employee salaries and benefits.

Kitzie Winters, the city's finance director, noted that cities can't use borrowed money to pay for such ongoing costs.

"By law, debt service must exclude operational expenses," she stated.

The city is getting $13.5 million through the federal American Rescue Plan Act. Why not use that money to pay for the new positions?

"The terms of the funding limit the options, with the biggest constraint being that the funding is for a limited time period — so not ideal for spending on ongoing purposes," Hirsch stated in the email.

In June the city allocated $9.5 million of that to fund a mix of positions, programs and projects, which left $4 million available for future initiatives.

The biggest spending item approved in June from the ARPA money was $5 million to help with a shortfall in construction of the downtown transit transfer center.

Other funding was allocated to address PFAS contamination at the city wells, paramedic training and aiding downtown shelters.

Salaries and benefits for the 4 1/2 positions funded through the city's ARPA money will only last for 4 1/2 years. At the end of that time, those jobs will end or need to find ongoing funding from other sources.

How many police officers does Eau Claire have?

The last significant increase in police staffing happened in 1997 when the city added 13 positions, bringing Eau Claire up to 99 officers.

"We are in the exact same place today as we were 25 years ago," Police Chief Matt Rokus said.

Between 1997 and this year, there have been times when one officer job has been added or subtracted. For a couple of years there were 98 officer positions. And for about eight years it had increased to 100.

The last change came last year when the Police Department decided to turn a vacant detective position — a sworn officer — into a new civilian mental health co-response coordinator.

That new position in the department has been an incredible resource for patrol officers and works alongside them to improve service to the community, Rokus said.

How have calls for police service been trending in the community?

The number of for police service has risen 67% in the past decade. In 2012, there were 28,877 calls for police help. Last year that had risen to 48,211, according to statistics provided by the department.

What will six additional officers do for the police department?

The new jobs will add to the police's numbers actively working in the community throughout the day.

"We will assign additional officers to each of the four patrol shifts," Rokus said.

Currently the city has a minimum of six to 10 officers on duty at a given time, depending on the time of day.

To maintain minimum staffing, the department has at times had detectives work shifts as patrol officers and frequently requires mandatory overtime.

Last year officers worked a total of 3,740 hours of overtime — a 450% increase from 2018, according to a city referendum fact sheet.

How have fire, rescue and emergency medical service calls changed in recent years in the Eau Claire area?

In the past decade, the volume has risen by 25%. In 2012, there were 7,708 calls, but it had grown to 9,796 last year, according to city statistics.

How has the Eau Claire Fire Department's staffing changed?

Since the early 2000s, the department's staffing has gone down.

One squad and an assistant chief position have been cut in those years, Fire Chief Chris Bell said.

Currently there are 90 sworn personnel — firefighters, paramedics and others who go out on emergency calls — and another 3 1/2 positions for fire inspectors and administrative support in the department.

How would the referendum's six new firefighters be allocated in the city?

All would be sent to Fire Station No. 6, 3020 Golf Road, to bring it up to the staffing level seen at the city's other busy fire stations.

Currently there are three firefighter/paramedics at Station No. 6 at a given time. That crew can respond to a fire call or medical call — but not both at the same time.

The station has run like that since it's inception, but that southern part of Eau Claire has been growing and generating more emergency calls.

"That part of town, the residential component has been growing," Bell said.

Six new firefighters would allow the station to up its staffing to five people per shift — allowing it the ability to staff two vehicles at a time and rely less on calling in units from other stations to cover its area.

What about that federal grant the city applied for early this year in hopes that could fund six new firefighters for three years?

Eau Claire has not been told it has gotten that grant money from the Department of Homeland Security while other Wisconsin cities selected for it have already heard back, according to Bell.

"We're at a point where it just doesn't look good for us," he said.

Why are two full-time community service officers included in the referendum?

Civilian positions in the Police Department and the city's community service officers handle parking enforcement, animal control and perform other duties to support police officers.

Currently there's one full-time community service officer and a dozen part-time positions, the latter of which have been increasingly difficult for the city to fill recently.

In addition to full-time positions being more attractive to job candidates, Rokus said adding two full-time community service officers would also help grow the duties those workers would have.

"If the referendum is approved we intend on expanding the role of our CSOs," he said.

They would assist in directing traffic around vehicle crashes and fires, aiding stranded motorists and taking lower-level crime reports that sworn officers are not needed for.

One other position to be funded by the referendum would be a new clerical position in the 911 dispatch center jointly run by the city and county. Why is that sought?

In addition to handling a rising amount of emergency calls — in the past four years they've gone up 15% — the current team of operators also have been doing administrative tasks, according to a fact sheet provided by the city.

The new civilian associate position would handle Freedom of Information Act requests, get 911 information for court documents, enter stolen property information into a database and other clerical duties to free up operators to take phone calls.

How much has Eau Claire's population been growing in recent years?

The city has broken the 70,000 mark recently, according to an estimate made in August by the state Department of Administration's Demographic Services Center. Eau Claire had 70,587 people at the start of this year, based on that estimate.

The 2010 Census counted 65,883 people living in the city. Over the course of a dozen years, the city's population has climbed by 7% based on those figures.

Growing at an even faster rate has been neighboring city Altoona, which has its own police department, but is among the municipalities that gets emergency medical service provided by the Eau Claire Fire Department.

The state's estimate put Altoona's population early this year at 9,149 residents. In the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 6,706. That's over 36% population growth over the course of a dozen years.

With the referendum coming up on a ballot with mid-term elections, how might that impact the vote?

The only safe predictions to be made are there will be a higher turnout and voters will have a lot on their minds.

Professor Rodd Freitag, chairman of UW-Eau Claire's Political Science Department, noted that many more people vote in fall mid-terms than local elections held in spring.

"In comparison to an April election, obviously we'll have more voters, a higher turnout," he said.

The makeup of voters will be different with more people voting because they're focused on state and national politics, but not as active in local issues.

How that could affect the result of the city's referendum is unknown though.

"I can't think of a good reason to think you're more likely to get a higher 'no' vote or 'yes' vote in a higher-turnout referendum," said Freitag, who has taught courses on local, state and national politics for over 25 years.

He noted that the cause of public safety does "have appeal across the political spectrum."

Hirsch acknowledged in June during a City Council meeting that the local referendum will be competing for voters' attention with political campaigning for numerous other races.

"We know there's lot of hot issues out there that could make it harder for the city to tell its story," she said.

Aside from hotly-contested races for Wisconsin governor, seats in Congress and the state Legislature, what else will be on voters minds' next month?

Inflation and the presence of a second local referendum on the ballot were two factors that Freitag believes voters will weigh when they go to the polls.

He believes the pressure that rising prices for fuel, energy and groceries have put on consumers will be a big factor in how they vote.

"You're asking voters to essentially raise their property tax bill a little bit, and you're doing that at a time when there are other bills that have gone up as well because of higher inflation," he said.

Seeing the Eau Claire school district also seeking money also will likely turn off a segment of voters.

That combination of simultaneous referendums and inflation in the economy might make both ballot questions more vulnerable than they would've been in other elections, Freitag said.

What did that survey done earlier this year say about chances of approval for a city referendum?

Before finalizing plans to go to referendum, leaders of the Eau Claire city government and school district ordered a feasibility study.

Accounting firm Baker Tilly revealed results of a survey of 306 city residents this June.

At first blush, only 35% of those who took the survey indicated they'd support a city property tax increase. That was outweighed by 40% who would oppose it, while the remaining 25% didn't have an opinion.

But then the survey-takers presented information on what the additional funding could support, which raised the amount of those favoring a referendum to 54%.

Among the potential funding uses, there were the highest support for police, fire and paramedic services. Seeing less support was raising tax money to address affordable housing and homelessness, maintain streets and parks, and pursue the city's environmental goals.

With a $98.6 million Eau Claire school district facilities referendum on the ballot, too, how are the two questions expected to fare among voters?

Before both the city and school district finalized their referendum questions, the Baker Tilly survey did anticipate two ballot questions and asked residents how they would vote.

While there were 35% who said they would support both referendums, another segment of voters said they would pick one or the other. There were 21% of respondents who would only back the school referendum, while 8% would vote just in favor of the city's tax increase.

Then 30% of survey respondents said they'd vote against both referendums while 6% did not have an opinion.