The city of Arnold will ask voters in April to approve a sales tax increase to fund the Arnold Police Department.
City Council members voted unanimously Dec. 15 to place a 1-cent sales tax increase tied to a 50 percent property tax reduction on the April 4 ballot.
The measure, called Proposition Public Safety, requires a simple majority vote to pass.
On the ballot, Arnold voters will be asked the following: “Shall the City of Arnold, Missouri, reduce its property tax by 50 percent from its current rate and impose an additional citywide sales tax of 1 percent for the purpose of funding law enforcement for the city of Arnold?”
If voters approve the measure, Arnold’s sales tax will increase from 1.250 cents per dollar to 2.220 cents per dollar, and its property tax will go from 0.363 cents per $100 assessed valuation to 0.1815 cents per $100 assessed valuation.
Arnold City Administrator Bryan Richison said the sales tax would cover all current Arnold Police expenses for the 2024 fiscal year, which will run from Sept. 1, 2023, through Aug. 31, 2024. According to council documents from a Nov. 10 council work session, the tax is projected to generate $7.2 million. Expenditures for the Arnold Police Department would be an estimated $7,198,016.
“A big thing is it would be a dedicated revenue stream that could only be used for law enforcement,” Richison said. “It creates a minimum amount of funding for our police that can never be reduced below the level of the tax. No matter what happens in the future or who is running the city, the Police Department will always have at a minimum the amount of money generated by the tax.”
Revenue from the proposed 1-cent sales tax increase would free up money from the city’s operating funds that typically are used to fund the Police Department and instead use it for road and street repairs and improvements, as well as other projects, Richison said.
He said city officials believe a sales tax increase is the best way to create a dedicated funding source for the Police Department.
Richison also said a high percentage of those who shop in Arnold do not live in the city, so Arnold residents would not bear the entire burden of paying for the police force, which often can be found patrolling and responding to stores and other businesses.
He also said that city officials believe cutting the property tax is the best way to help residents save some money and make up for an increase to the sales tax.
“Our feeling was if we get this new revenue that is being paid by Arnold residents who shop in town and customers who are outside of Arnold, we should be able to ease some of the tax burden through the property tax on our citizens because we would be able to capture revenue from people who are coming into the city to shop,” Richison said.
Arnold Police Chief Brian Carroll said his department has 61 employees. He said 54 of those employees are police officers.
Carroll said Arnold Police spent $3,911,410 on employee salaries during the 2022 fiscal year, which ran from Aug. 31, 2021, to Sept. 1.
“I have worked with our residents for 23 years, and I can say with confidence that public safety is a top priority for this community,” he said. “I feel that we currently do a very good job keeping our city safe. In order to continue our level of police services, we must invest in new and innovative ways to enhance public safety. If this ballot initiative to fund our Police Department passes, we can ensure nothing but the best of police services in the years to come.”
Richison said the city is seeking the sales tax increase in an effort to eliminate deficit spending in the next budget.
“We are facing a situation where we may need to make substantial cuts to the budget, and this would completely avoid that,” he said. “There have been no decisions made, but personnel is the biggest part of our budget and the Police Department is our biggest department. If we were forced to make cuts to balance our budget, it would be hard to avoid cutting personnel.”
For this fiscal year, which began Sept. 1 and ends Aug. 31, 2023, the city has about 130 full-time employees, including the Arnold Police force, Richison said.
The city also will employ about 92 part-time workers throughout this fiscal year, he said.
In the current budget, which council members approved in August, the city expects to spend $2,781,885 more than it brings in, according to City Council documents.
According to the budget, Arnold will bring in a projected $23,747,585 and will spend $26,713,970, shrinking the city’s reserve funds from $4,428,188 to an estimated $1,646,303 by the end of the current fiscal year.
Richison said the bulk of Arnold’s $18,286,280 operating budget, about 69 percent, is committed to paying the city’s full-time and part-time employees, with the city projected to spend $12,544,072 on employees’ salaries and benefits for the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
During a Nov. 10 City Council work session, Richison presented an early projection of Arnold’s 2023-2024 budget that showed the city bringing in an estimated $17,810,285 and spending $20,057,094.
Richison also said it looks like the next operating budget would have a projected $16,545,216 in expenditures and $14,760,935 in revenue.
In order to balance that budget, the city would have to eliminate about 25 full-time employees, Richison said. He said Arnold spends an average of $70,000 to cover a full-time employee’s salary and benefit costs.
“It is not for sure we would have to cut police because nothing has been decided, but it is going to be difficult to make cuts without touching the Police Department,” Richison said. “None of us want to do that. They do a great job. Our community benefits from the safety they provide.”
If the 1-cent sales tax increase were passed, Richison said the city would have a $5,413,735 surplus in its operating fund for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
“We would not have to make any kind of cuts (if the sales tax increase is approved), and we could continue to provide the service levels that we are currently at and maybe even more than what we do now,” he said.
“Right now, it is highly unlikely that the current mayor, council or anybody here would be eager to cut the police budget,” he said. “City leadership can change over the years. You see things happening around the country, and you don’t know where things may go. This would provide some guaranteed stability. No matter what happens in politics, the Police Department would always know it has a certain amount of money it can count on.”