Mayor: Raise Income Tax for School Safety Officers

Stow residents may decide in November whether or not to raise the city's income tax rate from 2 percent to 2.25 percent to put full-time cops in Stow schools.

Stow Mayor Sara Drew made that recommendation Thursday at Stow City Council as she presented the findings of the Stow Safety Task Force, which was formed earlier this year to consider the issue of school, and community, safety.

"It must be the community that determines if this is the correct solution," Drew said.

The mayor gave a lengthy presentation on the findings and research of the task force that included input from Stow Police Chief Louis Dirker. Stow-Munroe Falls City Schools Superintendent Russell Jones, though present, did not comment publicly.

Drew said ultimately the proposal from the task force, after months of talks, came down to a proposed 0.25 percent income tax increase that would add nine school resource officers to the Stow Police Department staff.

Take our poll. Would you support a tax increase for school resource officers?

The mayor stressed that the proposal would take some time to review before residents even knew if it would be on the ballot in November.

First, the issue would have to come to council, whose members would ultimately determine if the proposed tax increase goes to the ballot. That council vote could happen in May, when the mayor is aiming to present them with proposed legislation for the income tax increase. 

If council agreed to put the issue on the ballot, it would at the earliest be on the Nov. 5 ballot.

"We're certainly not trying to rush this through," Drew said.

The measure, if approved, would generate between $1.6 million and $1.7 million annually based on the city's existing collections. That money would be earmarked specifically for law enforcement spending and likely would have some flexibility to pay for personnel, equipment and training.

Right now, city officials project that it would cost between $1.3 million and $1.45 million annually to hire nine new police officers specifically to staff the school district's nine buildings full-time. The officers would become a specific schools division within the police department, but during breaks such as summer they would work on community wide policing efforts.

Dirker said his department is down six officers to 38 from a high-water staffing mark of 44 during his tenure as chief.

"We’re holding our own," he said. "But we could use more help. And if we want to do something in the schools we’re going to need a lot more help."

Since December 2012 the Stow-Munroe Falls Board of Education has been paying off-duty Stow police officers to work in shifts at the district buildings.

That expense, both Dirker and Drew said, cannot be sustained by the schools past this year.

Nor should it, Drew said. As the city's safety director, Drew said it's the city's responsibility and not the schools to provide security from threats and deadly events such as the recent school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT, and in Chardon, OH.

"The schools do not exist in a vacuum separate from the community at large," she said. "This is a community issue. It is not a city issue. It is not a school issue."

If approved by voters, the tax increase would raise Stow's income tax collection rate from 2 percent to 2.25 percent. The increase would not raise taxes on Stow residents who work outside the city in communities with the same 2.25 percent tax rate.

Stow residents who work in a community with a tax rate of 2.25 percent that shares reciprocity with Stow would be unaffected. 

Stow Councilman Brian D'Antonio said he is hopeful council will agree with the task force and put the issue on the ballot for voters to make the ultimate decision.

"I feel it is important that the city of Stow and the people of Stow have the opportunity to at least vote on it and let their voice be heard," he said.