Still understaffed
In Ohio, the South Euclid police union is accusing the city administration of understaffing the police department, despite a safety-forces tax voters approved last November. In an ad in Thursday’s Sun Messenger, the South Euclid Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #80 said that “safety and security is not the priority of city leaders,” as the department has been reduced from 41 to 35 officers since 2009. The three-year safety tax, which costs owners of $100,000 homes an extra $300, will bring in $1.1 million this year, half of which will go to the fire department. City officials have repeatedly said the tax was meant to maintain staffing levels, rather than increase them. “We had a safety levy, but it in no way covered the $2 million we lost through [cuts to the] CAT tax, local government fund and estate tax,” Mayor Georgine Welo said. “I’m a little disappointed there’s an ad in the paper. “We are going into union negotiations, so this comes with the territory.”
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