Public safety bond is worthy
The biggest task facing Fire Chief Ken Gabriel and his supporters Tuesday isn’t getting voters to support a $7 million public safety bond. It’s getting Coeur d’Alene voters to realize the issue is on the ballot, too. The bond has been somewhat lost in the push for the second ballot measure – a $3 million bond to help build a new library.
Unlike the library campaign, which has a well-formed organization and solid campaign funding, the public safety campaign has relied on the men and women who protect the community. In off hours, firefighters and police officers have distributed fliers door to door and answered questions from a variety of organizations.
They offer compelling reasons for their bond issue. To keep pace with Coeur d’Alene’s growth boom, the fire and police departments need the buildings, remodeling, equipment and, indirectly, personnel the bond will fund.
For $7,043,941, the city will be able to build a public safety training facility, remodel two fire department buildings, pay off two stations and buy equipment, including a firetruck. Concerned Businesses of North Idaho and the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce consider the bond worthy of support and so do we. Earlier this month, The Spokesman-Review endorsed the library bond, too.
Coeur d’Alene’s public safety departments are doing much more without increasing staff adequately. In 2003, for example, the fire department responded to 6,050 emergency calls, or six times more than the 960 calls to which it responded in 1994. In the same period, emergency response by Coeur d’Alene police jumped from 23,651 to 33,252.
The Coeur d’Alene Fire Department is the second busiest in the state of Idaho. Yet, the city was too stretched financially to hire new police officers or firefighters despite a combined request from the departments for eight more people. A successful bond election would free money in the general budget to hire officers and firefighters by paying off the remaining debt on the police station ($912,700) and Fire Station 3 ($1,130,355).
Cost of the bond is reasonable – $4.60 per month or $55.20 per year for an average $150,000 Coeur d’Alene home.
One of the reasons resort owner Duane Hagadone pulled his controversial proposal to build a memorial garden downtown was that he didn’t want to negatively influence the Tuesday vote. An advisory vote on his garden proposal would have been on the February ballot, too. Hagadone knows the importance of top-notch fire and police departments – and libraries.
Every vote will be important because both bonds require a two-thirds supermajority for passage. This bond is crucial to keep Coeur d’Alene’s public safety units among the best in the state.