Hermiston finds funding for 3 extra officers
By Terry Murry on Wednesday, January 10th, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
HERMISTON – The Hermiston City Council approved three measures this week that will make spending cuts and add funding to hire three additional officers for the Hermiston Police Department while balancing the budget. Previously, the hiring of officers had been approved but the funding was not budgeted.
A town hall meeting was held and a public survey was conducted to gather community feedback on budget priorities. Both of those methods showed a strong desire among the citizens to add officers to HPD without putting the full cost on residents. Respondents also favored creating stable revenue streams for the city without adding additional taxes.
The council approved cutting the street maintenance budget fund by about $490,000. The transient room tax is being increased from eight percent to nine percent for an estimated $100,000 in revenue. Fees from the planning department will increase based on inflation for a projected $80,000 annually. The council also endorsed creating a law enforcement staffing fee on all city utility bills of $5 a month for about $360,000 a year. and decided not to increase utility rates due to the new fee.
The measures that were approved along with a federal grant of $125,000 for police funding come close to filling the money needed for the projected budget shortfall. The council also tabled instituting a business license fee because questions still needed to be answered about the specifics of that fee.
“Hermiston is one of the few cities which doesn’t currently charge a business license fee,” Assistant City Manager Mark Morgan said. “It got tabled to iron out a few more of the details and will be brought back on Jan. 22.”
Mayor David Drotzmann said the council worked hard to find a way to add officers.
“The council heard from the community that public safety was important and that fees should be spread across business, residents, and visitors,” he said. “They made small adjustments to reflect those fee changes while still protecting low-income families and we appreciate the input we’ve received since we began this process in June.”
Hermiston Police Chief Jason Edmiston said it was interesting to observe the council at work Monday night.
“Ultimately,, the council had to make some tough decisions, but it is always nice to hear the support of the police department from both members of the council and citizens in the audience,” he said.
HPD currently has five recruits in the state police academy and the three additional officers will add to that, enabling the department to make things safer for the troops. He said this is the first time the department has raised its minimum staffing per shift for the first time in at least the 27 years he’s been with the department, even though the population has risen dramatically.
“The community continues to grow and so does the work,” Edmiston said. “Last year our total incidents were up five percent; calls for service from the public were up 19 percent from the 10-year average; total arrests were up 13 percent from 2022; and reports taken were up 10 percent from the previous year.
Edmiston said he’s proud of his officers, working only two per shift, remained professional and kept busy.
“What suffered was our ability to be proactive and aggressively go out and attempt to thwart criminal activity,” he said. “We are looking to change that trend in 2024 and beyond.”
