By Mike Hazlip—
Following concerns raised last month, Citrus Heights Mayor Tim Schaefer has proposed a review of police funding to determine whether current funding levels are adequate.
During a public comments portion of a July 27 City Council meeting, resident David Warren expressed concern over adequate police protection in what he called a “frightening” division in the country. He also made similar comments in a July 13 guest column published in The Sentinel.
“It is clear to me that in the upcoming election, even here in California, there’s going to be a great deal of stress and division,” Warren said. “Unfortunately for some, they will present that in violent manners.”
Warren said Citrus Heights has been a safe area historically, adding that he could leave his door unlocked 30 years ago when he first moved to the area. Those times have changed, Warren said as he advocated to increase police funding ahead of the 2024 election.
He added that Citrus Heights Police could be called on to assist neighboring agencies in the event of violence, in addition to any potential unrest in the city.
“Simply put, we don’t have adequate protection and facilities for our police officers,” Warren said. “We need to boost them to full staffing and we need to provide them with all the necessary equipment.”
He called the current funding inadequate, and advocated for creating a special assessment district to pay for more police services, funded by an additional property tax.
“If we have the time in this community to consider a special school district, we certainly have the time now to plan for the funding of an adequate police force in our community to protect and serve in a time that we’re going to have a great deal of difficulty,” said Warren.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Mayor Schaefer made a motion that an item regarding police funding be added to a future agenda. The proposal was seconded by Vice Mayor Bret Daniels.
“I like David Warren’s suggestion that we look at how well our Police Department is funded,” Schaefer said. He adding that he’d like to see a report from the police chief addressing whether the department is in need of more funding.
How much funding currently goes to police?
The majority of the city’s $43.1 million General Fund revenues for the current fiscal year are budgeted for the Police Department, with $22.6 million in expenditures budgeted for police. An additional $949,000 also goes to police from special revenue funds, according to the city’s adopted 2023-24 budget.
A Sentinel review of the budget shows other major expenditures from the city’s General Fund include $3.3 million for General Services, $1.6 million for Community Development, $8.8 million for Administrative Services, $1.1 million for the City Manager’s Office and $1 million for community engagement.
