A letter to the city from attorney Paul Kavanagh, representing “Harter Jackson and other taxpayers of the city of Springfield” cites the City Charter, which “combined with a tax levy passed in 2017 by voters, requires there be a full-time police force of 130 sworn officers.”
The city currently reports the number of full-time police officers at 119, but asserts ongoing recruitment and training efforts demonstrate their commitment to meeting charter standards.
During Tuesday night’s meeting, resident Mike Lowe asked City Commissioners if the notice had been received, and asked why the city was failing to meet the Charter requirements. He also asked if the city was in compliance with the charter and tax levy requirements to monies allocated for police in a separate, interest-bearing fund.
Reading from the letter, Lowe continued “To the extent that the city engaged in fraudulent behavior by knowingly receiving taxpayer funds and using those funds in contravention of the City Charter or tax levy, you should also demand that said funds be returned to the taxpayers of the city of Springfield.”
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
Kavanagh’s letter called on city Law Director Jill Allen to rectify the issues, or to file an injunction within 14 days “to restrain the misapplication of funds.” He said if that does not occur, “my client has instructed me to bring a taxpayer suit” against the city.
“Yes, we are at 119 officers … but that is not for lack of trying to hire officers,” City Manager Bryan Heck responded to the complaint. “Since January of 2022 we have had nine separate civil service processes to try and hire … we are actively and have been actively trying to get our numbers up.”
Heck added that in the 2017 police levy, the city promised to try to maintain a force of 130 officers.
“Certainly we are not at that 130. We want to be; our budget is authorized for 130,” he noted.
Mayor Rob Rue recapped, saying, “If we were not holding civil service exams for the express purpose of hiring for law enforcement, actively advertising for this — then someone could have a legitimate complaint against the city of Springfield. But because we are actively doing this, this probably is not a valid complaint, because we would like to be at mandated strength … we’re making every effort to do that and we are hiring every eligible person we can.”
Heck added “I will say again, we are not going to sacrifice quality over quantity. We are making sure we are hiring quality officers to serve our community.”
Heck asked city finance director Katie Eviston to address Lowe’s question regarding funding being reserved in a separate account for police services.
“When we are not paying those salaries for those additional officers, we are paying that in overtime,” Eviston explained. “We would certainly like to hire those additional officers to reduce that overtime cost and the cost on our most valuable resource, which is our people, having to work long hours.”
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
The special police levy fund generates almost $3 million in property tax revenue annually for those additional officers, Eviston stated, but the city operates a police division with a budget of approximately $19 million each year. The city has to subsidize the police levy with income tax from the general fund to support the police budget, Eviston said.
“That does not include the $1 million or more annually we are spending on capital improvements for our police division, such as police cruisers and bulletproof vests. … In total the city’s general fund budget is $58 million, and 56% of that is allocated for public safety.”
Springfield Police Chief Allison Elliott said the division is working hard on recruitment. She praised the partnership formed with Clark State College to enable officers to complete training and for the opportunity for officers to train to become instructors.
“Those opportunities have really helped us in retention,” she said.
Information about the Citizens Police Academy and the application process can be found at springfieldohio.gov/police-division/ at the bottom of the page, under PDF downloads.
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