by Mary Wilson, mwilson@jcadvocate.com
Divided public opinion on the prospect of a public safety
tax vote and its ultimate usage brought Bill Galvin and Mayor Leonard Jones
face to face during last week’s Grandview Board of Aldermen work session.
“I think you know why I’m here,” said Galvin, president of
Local 42, Grandview’s sole bargaining union for firefighters and EMTs. “You’ve
heard what (the public safety sales tax) can do. We’d like to know what the
issue is with not putting it on the ballot.”
Mayor Leonard Jones asked Galvin to explain why the public
safety sales tax issue has become a priority for Local 42 to push in front of
Grandview’s voting population. Galvin and his organization have been leading
the charge to persuade city elected officials to put the tax on a future
ballot. Discussion during public comments during previous meetings, social
media posts and paid advertisements expressing Local 42’s dissatisfaction with
the Board of Aldermen and Grandview’s Mayor prompted last week’s meeting.
“Why didn’t this come up last year, the year before, or the
year before that?” asked Jones. “What has changed?”
Galvin credited the urgency to legislation passed recently,
while Jones and City Administrator Cory Smith said that the legislation Galvin
referred to has been established for quite some time. As far as Galvin knows,
there has not been an issue in other municipalities with getting a public
safety sales tax on the ballot.
“I think it’s time to put it on there,” said Galvin. “You
keep losing firefighters and getting new ones, I don’t know, every three
months. I think you’ve lost 12 in the last nine months. I’d like to work as a
partnership instead of going against each other, but I don’t know what the deal
is why you wouldn’t want it on there.”
Ward III Alderman Jim
Crain said that, despite Local 42 claiming through advertisements and social
media the Aldermen are anti-public safety, he was instrumental in equipping
police vehicles with mobile data units, bringing thermal imaging cameras to the
department, and demanding that all three ambulances be outfitted with
electronic-powered cots to prevent injuries.
“If you had done your homework, you would know that over the
years that I’ve been sitting here I’ve been a very, very strong supporter of
public safety,” said Crain. “I’m surprised you would even question my support
of public safety. I support the public safety sales tax. My guess is that
between three and six months we’ll have it on the ballot.”
While Crain said that several discussions have taken place
regarding putting the public safety sales tax on the ballot, the Aldermen are
still trying to figure out how such a tax would be implemented if it were to
pass.
“I doubt very seriously that the way a lot of it will be
used is going to be up for negotiation,” said Crain. “The Chief will have
recommendations, but this Board is going to figure out how it will be spent. I
strongly disagree with the tactics of the union, and I’ve heard a lot of
negative comments. It’s been disheartening and disappointing.”
Ward II Alderman Brian Hochstein brought up the fact that
the City of Grandview has negotiators who help determine contracts for public
safety employees.
“The public safety tax is a separate issue, but you’ve drug
it into this,” said Hochstein. “You’re going to say things like we’ve failed
and we don’t care about firefighters’ lives or our citizens’ lives? That’s
really disappointing. If people showed up at this meeting at other times,
they’d know that we’ve talked about the public safety sales tax.”
Hochstein added that he has personally brought up a
potential tax numerous times. In 2014, the City of Columbia voted down a
similar tax, so Hochstein said the tax has been around since before then. When
it comes to a specific public safety tax, he said he is in full support of
putting one on the ballot for the voters in Grandview to decide.
“However, we had already lined up other taxes for our
citizens to vote on,” said Hochstein. “We’ve had two major problems in the last
few years when it comes to sales taxes that feed the general fund which allows
us to provide services. My concern has always been, first and foremost, making
sure that my constituents were getting services from all departments and that
those were funded.”
“What is more important though, their safety or other
services?” asked Galvin.
“Their safety is factored into that,” said Hochstein. “I’m
not saying that we can’t do better.”
Hochstein added that with Grandview voters recently passing
the Capital Improvement Sales Tax this month, the Aldermen are looking toward
passing the Local Use Tax. With online sales, the City of Grandview has seen
significant reduction in sales tax revenues.
“We finally have the ability to recoup some of that, and
that’s been our plan,” said Hochstein. “Our sales tax has been getting killed,
absolutely murdered, by online sales.”
Hochstein also said that he has been a part of frank
discussions with the Board regarding timing of putting the issue on a ballot.
He would like to see it go to a public vote in six months, though he
understands that while Local 42 is in negotiations with the City of Grandview,
the timing is not convenient for the union.
“You said a keyword there, you said killed,” said Galvin.
“Is that what it’s going to have to take to happen, one of these officers or
one of these firefighters to get killed?”
“We can’t look at everything in one little bucket, Mr.
Galvin,” said Hochstein. “I don’t look at it that way. I agree that there are
things that can be improved, and I think there is a way to get there. But, the
negotiating parts of public safety taxes are separate things. We have other
concerns, and frankly, Local 42 attacking us (with billboards and on social
media) is not productive and is not helping things.”
Ward I Alderman Damon Randolph asked what the staffing
standards are for fire departments. According to Galvin, the standard number of
firefighters to fight a residential fire is 15 and goes up from there with
larger fires. Randolph also asked why strategic partnerships with other surrounding
departments are considered to be a bad thing in regards to Local 42’s efforts
to educate Grandview’s citizens on the need for additional fire employees.
“We don’t think it’s a bad thing, but the staffing would be
nice if it was here,” said Galvin. “A lot of municipalities around here have a
four-man staff on every rig while you just have three.”
Randolph said he has heard Local 42 say the opposite, that a
strategic partnership is not a good thing.
“If you had proper staffing, you wouldn’t need as much help,
which also hurts other cities too,” said Galvin. “You’re then taking resources
from other cities. Now they have to find somebody to fill them spots.”
If voters in Grandview were to pass a public safety sales
tax, Ward I Alderman Sandy Kessinger asked what the proposed use of the
additional tax revenue would be. Galvin said that Grandview’s Fire Chief would
have the ultimate say, but that Local 42 would be involved in negotiations to
determine the use. He added that he would like to see the tax used for salaries
and the hiring of additional firefighters.
“Grandview is not the first jurisdiction to push back or
have concerns about a vague plan from the firefighters’ union,” said Kessinger.
Ward II Alderman Annette Turnbaugh added that she is also in
support of a public safety sales tax ballot issue, but she feels that the
personal bashing Local 42 has used to force the issue has caused a loss of
confidence in the community.
“They feel that we don’t care,” said Turnbaugh. “That could
not be further from the truth.” Though he was absent from the meeting, Ward II
Aldermen John Maloney said he has always been supportive of having the public
safety sales tax on the ballot, and if not in November, he’d like to see it be
voted on in April.
Mayor Jones said that the City of Grandview has been doing
the same thing it has been doing for several years and nothing in regards to
public safety has changed.
“You now have the opportunity for change with the public
safety sales tax,” said Galvin. “If it’s been there for a long time, how come
you didn’t implement this a long time ago? The opportunity was there to have
those tax dollars for public safety and it was never acted on.”
Jones said that the Board of Aldermen has approved a
sequence of ballot issues to benefit the entire city, and the public safety
sales tax has already been queued to move into the ballot cycle.
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