The Baker City Police Officer Association wanted to respond to a letter to the editor from Mayor Beverly Calder. We want to present facts regarding the current state of our budget and encourage citizens to engage in open dialog as we look at ways to maintain a sustainable budget while not reducing police services.

The City has employed accountant and Baker City resident Kent Bailey to crunch the numbers on our budget, and his reports provide the real numbers that are our budget despite what some want to believe. The current budget shortfall of one million dollars has nothing to do with the current city manager and does not fall squarely in his lap as Mayor Calder indicates in her letter. Our current situation has everything to do with basic economics.

I can provide two examples of this. In 2001, we had a young police officer that this city hired away from Ontario where he was working as a full-time emergency medical technician. While at the police academy, he was met by department leadership at the academy and told that the Council had eliminated his position in order to balance the budget. Thankfully Chief Tomlinson, working with the city manager and council, found a way to keep him on through the end of the academy, and later decided to continue to fund his position. This officer is now starting his 22nd year with our organization. This proposed cut came a year after the city experienced the largest working capital it had ever had, at which time the city council spent money to bring that working capital down.

In 2004, two officer positions were cut to balance the budget. These officers have never been replaced.

Mayor Calder’s police budget number of $3.5 million stated in the paper is incorrect. The police budget for 2022-2023 was $2.7 million and is not expected to exceed a 4% increase 2023-2024. The Police Department has never spent outside of its means and has always strived to make the best use of our taxpayers’ and citizens’ hard-earned money.

In the 2017-2018 adopted budget for Baker City, then City Manager Fred Warner said this, “To begin to reconcile the $504,000 differences between budgeted revenue and budgeted expenditures in the General Fund a series of projections/scenarios were developed. After reviewing these different scenarios, the following discussion points were used to develop the proposed budget that is before you today.” Cuts in that budget were outlined as follows: “cut a position from the Fire Department, cut a police car purchase, cut admin expenditures, cut police and fire materials and services.” Mr. Warner stated then, “the citizens of Baker City seem to be happy with the city services they are receiving but can the city maintain this level of service with current revenue and expenditure trends?”

A May 15, 2018, letter from a city council member also outlined that the city was going to experience a much larger unencumbered ending fund balance than expected. A public safety fee was enacted to save police and fire. This council member proposed the public safety fee reduction from $3/$6 to $1/$2. The reasoning he stated was, “… currently our Public Safety Fee and our SAFER grant end at the same time, causing a budget shortfall as described by Finance Director, Jeanie Dexter. I would rather build public goodwill by reducing the fee when not necessary thereby potentially making it easier to bring back if there isn’t a long-term solution in the Fire/EMS funding found.”

It is clear that Baker City’s budget problem has been in the works for years. Cuts have been made to the point that we are now in the bone with no permanent solution. The can has been kicked down the road as it is never popular to raise revenue. Mayor Calder states in her letter to the editor “there is never a situation in management where there is only one option.” The reality is that all options have been employed for years and Baker City’s financial situation is continuing to worsen. Long term solutions need to be talked about like increasing affordable housing and business investment, but those are solutions that will take years to come into fruition.

Cities all over Oregon are in the same position Baker City is in. Councilor Ray Duman presented a document that outlined how numerous cities in Oregon are having to enact some form of public safety fee to maintain basic police and fire services. General fund revenue alone simply does not pay for basic public safety services anymore. This is a direct result of Measures 5 and 50 as Mayor Calder outlines. If the citizens want police/fire services, there must be a mechanism outside of property tax revenues to pay for them.

We have heard the argument that our police officers get paid too much. We would tend to disagree. In comparison with other cities of our size, our police officers make consistently less money than officers in other cities. Our average rollover of officers is two per year. In fact, in the last two years, seven officers have left this department for various reasons including better pay and benefits. Some of these officers were longtime Baker City residents that grew up here and attended our local school system.

It is no secret that over the last few years councilors have asked Chief Duby what is needed at the PD. We know he has relayed that Baker City Police really needs at least one more patrol officer and ideally two. We are understaffed compared to similar cities and calls for service. Currently, Baker City Police Department has 15 sworn police officers, including the Chief of Police. Astoria PD has 16 sworn, La Grande PD has 19 sworn, Ontario PD has 25 sworn and Prineville PD has 18 sworn. Professor James McCabe (Ph.D), a senior associate for the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) Center for Public Safety Management at this time of his publication used here, writes that the ratio of full-time police officers per 1,000 residents ranges from 1.8 to 2.6 with 2.5 being the average ratio. We currently sit at 1.6 police officer per 1,000 citizens in Baker City with the Chief included.

As with any service, there is a cost associated and this has to be weighed on the expectations and needs of our residents. The Baker City Police Officer Association simply wants the public to know reduced staffing at the police department will significantly affect the police service that the citizens have come to expect; a service our officers strive to, and continue to want to, provide. We encourage our budget board and City Council to find a solution that does not reduce police services and the community safety our citizens have come to expect.

The City Council will be meeting to have a vote on how to move forward on April 11, 2023 at 6 p.m. We urge our citizens to attend the meeting and take advantage of the public comments time to express your concerns and support of the Baker City Police Department.

Wayne Chastain

Baker City Police Officer’s Association