Hiring officers for elementary schools will mean a tax increase
May 17—The Haywood County Board of Commissioners spoke in unity Monday evening about the importance of having school resource officers in each of the 15 schools in the county, even if it means raising taxes.
Every middle and high school in the county already have a dedicated school resource officer. However, the eight elementary schools do not. Adding eight additional school resource officers would cost $850,000 annually in salaries, benefits and operating costs, plus another $600,000 in one-time start-up costs to outfit the officers with uniforms, cars and equipment.
The only way to cover the $1.48 million expense is with a 1.5-cent property tax increase, County Manager Bryant Morehead told commissioners when presenting a draft budget for the coming fiscal year.
The new tax rate would be 55 cents per $100 of property value. The 1.5-cent increase would amount to about $37 on the annual tax bill for those with property valued at $250,000.
The $600,000 start-up costs of purchasing vehicles, uniforms and equipment would not be a recurring expense year after year.
"The first year is the most expensive year because of the start-up costs," Morehead said.
However, unwinding a portion of the property tax hike following the SRO onboarding wouldn't make sense, as inflation, salaries and increases cost of doing business pose continual pressure on the county budget, Morehead said.
Commissioners weigh in
County commissioners signaled their support for a tax increase to fund the additional school resource officers.
Board Chairman Kevin Ensley has long-supported having a school resource officer in every school since the idea was first broached a decade ago.
Commissioner Brandon Rogers said he hated talking about a tax increase more than anything, but said he hated the idea of not protecting kids even more.
"We need to take the steps we need to take," he said, noting $37 more a year is "not too bad, but I still don't like it."
Commissioner Jennifer Best concurred, saying that if something happened in a school, it would be hard to live with if the county hadn't tried to fund the SRO program.
"I believe it's vital to our community," she said.
Commissioner Tommy Long said the county needs to send a massage that if anyone tries to cause harm to children in Haywood schools, they will pay.
"I don't think we need to back off on safety," he said. "I know lot of proactive steps are being taken in other states."
Commissioner Terry Ramey said he didn't think too many people would complain about a tax increase if they knew it was to keep children safe.
"I agree about nobody likes a tax increase, but if I think of anything we need it for, it would be for the kids," he said.
Commissioners won't vote on the tax increase until early June. A public hearing on the proposed budget and tax increase will be held at 5:30 p.m. May 30 on the second floor of the historic courthouse.
County department heads collectively requested 20 other new positions, none of which made it into the draft budget.
The plan
In a later interview, Sheriff Bill Wilke said he and his staff have been working on a plan to provide a school resource officer in every school since he first took office in December.
Following Monday's meeting, the sheriff said he sent out an email asking officers whether they would like to apply for the eight new SRO posts. He said fully implementing the program could take a while as the plan is phased in to cover all the bases.
Those serving as SROs must have worked in law enforcement for at least a year.
"I'm really excited about where this is going," Wilke said. "Today starts the process of finding out who is interested."
If existing officers move into the new SROs positions, it could leave law enforcement agencies short-staffed in other areas with vacancies to fill. On the bright side, Wilke said he is in contact with several potential hires currently enrolled in the basic law enforcement class at Haywood Community College who could come on board following their graduation.
"It's a great benefit to us that we now have people we're sending to basic law enforcement training. We were hamstrung before," Wilke said.
The plan needs to be carefully coordinated with the towns of Waynesville and Canton, which already have SROs in schools within their town limits and needs to ensure any steps of filling the jobs with existing staff don't leave the department short-staffed in other places.
The appeal of an SRO job is its daytime shifts without weekend duties, though Wilke said SROs often build up a lot of comp time from being at sporting events throughout the year. That comp time allows for a more flexible summer schedule when SROs spend time at trainings and helping out in other areas of the department to fill in for those on vacation.
More than a gun
Those eventually hired to serve as school resource officers need to have a dual set of skills — ones that would equip them to take out any active shooter on campus and, at the same time, work in a guidance/supportive capacity with the students they are protecting.
"There's a great pool of people who understand that they serve a purpose much higher than self. The idea to protect someone else — that's an idea that goes back to what Christ did," Wilke said
SROs need to have a personality that allows them to build a trust relationship with students — so kids are comfortable talking with the officers about bullying, what's happening at home or in their neighborhood that an officer would need to know.
The trust relationship between the SRO and child is imperative," Wilke stressed. "Kids need to know they are safe and can control their environment so they can remain safe. SROs are key to that."
He said a perfect example is the DARE program, which has evolved significantly since the "just say no," days. Now students are given skill sets of how to say no, how to escape peer pressure to do something they don't want to do and how to get away form a dangerous situation without compromising their safety.
"It is guidance in terms of always doing the right thing because that takes a lot of strength, and an SRO is imperative in providing a stable influence to do that," Wilke said. "They can help reinforce that it's OK to do the right thing regardless of how tough it is."
