Iowa City Council member will seek less police spending at April 4 budget hearing

Iowa City Council member Laura Bergus wants to change how the city handles public safety and law enforcement and intends to call for a vote on her proposal at the next council meeting.

Bergus told the Press-Citizen she wants to hold the department's budget steady or make some staffing cuts instead of a proposed increase of almost $1 million. She would achieve her goal by shifting funds meant for five open patrol positions to other departments.

Bergus said the exact wording of her proposed amendment to the city's next budget remains undetermined but will be centered on her belief that the city needs to invest in areas other than policing to improve safety in the community.

"There's so many ways in which, when you look at what do people need to feel well and safe in themselves, in their families, in their homes and their neighborhoods, the police vehicle rolling by doesn't rise to the top," she said.

Bergus, an at-large member of council, is heading into her first reelection bid this November and published a roughly 6,000-word essay on her campaign website in mid-Februrary titled "Investing in Community Safety" that explains how she thinks policing needs to change in Iowa City.

"I will not vote to increase police funding," Bergus said at the top of her essay. "Instead, let’s invest in preventing harm and supporting the work of organizations who know how to empower people."

In a meeting Tuesday, Bergus gave her colleagues a formal "heads up" about her plan to call for the vote when they meet April 4 for a public hearing on the proposed budget.

Iowa City Police Chief Dustin Liston told the Press-Citizen that the proposed budget, despite the increase, would maintain the status quo for the department and help relieve pressure on important investigative work. He said if staffing is cut, officers in his department may have less time for community policing efforts, instead focusing on emergency calls.

He said the department is working towards the goals of a 2020 restructuring plan and that he supports a lot of Bergus's ideas for other ways to improve public safety. But he said the department currently is under pressure and often calls on officers to work overtime to ensure adequate staffing.

He said the city shouldn't have to choose between the police budget and ideas to improve safety.

"I don't feel it needs to be a binary choice. I think we can do both and I think the city manager will tell you the same thing. I don't think we have to risk public safety to have to do some of these things," Liston said.

Police budget up sharply over past several years

Since 2018, the police budget has increased from about $13.8 million to the proposed $17.3 million in this year's budget. Revised from $16.4 million this year, it ended up at $16.8 million.

Bergus points out in her essay that the police budget has grown over 40% in the last decade while Iowa City’s population grew by only a little over 10%.

Liston told the Press-Citizen that the department currently has 113.26 full-time equivalent positions, of which 84 are sworn offices, but that five of those positions are empty. The city had 73 officers last year and Liston said the highest number of officers the department has had in his two years as chief is 80.

The new budget asks for one new sworn position that Liston said will give relief to the department's investigative team, specifically the detective who investigates sexual assault. He said that last year she averaged 12.5 hours of overtime a week and currently is working on 19 cases at a time.

"I don't think its fair to ask that detective to maintain that workload so we're trying to get her some relief," Liston said.

He said the department paid over 18,000 hours of overtime in 2022, not including contract overtime or working at University of Iowa and City High football games. He said these extra hours were to help with investigations or because of staffing shortfalls.

"For me that's not sustainable. Those are real people getting forced into double shifts," Liston said.

Personnel expenditures in the department would increase 17%, or $74,009, in the 2024 budget because the department is converting a sergeant to a lieutenant. The other increases to the police budget come from adding another employee to the department's mental health liaison.

Liston said Iowa City runs a "lean" department compared to other cities with large colleges like Ann Arbor and East Lansing in Michigan, the homes of the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, respectively. He said it has one officer per 1,000 residents while the national average is closer to 1.4 officers per 1,000.

"There are several positions that I think we could use, but understanding where our community is and the financial situation all cities are in right now... I'm not going to go say we need 10 more officers," he said.

Liston also pointed out that about 86% of his department's budget is out of his control because it comes from contractually-obligated wages and benefits that were agreed to by the police union and City Council.

He also cited inflationary factors, such as rising fuel costs..

"The amount of wiggle room that I have on our budget is relatively small," Liston said.

But Bergus said she is looking to change the status quo with her proposal.

"The biggest catch is that I know a status quo police budget will mean status quo policing," she said. "The amount of investment we have in status quo policing is disproportionate to our priorities. That's the shift I'm looking for."

Bergus says city not living up to police restructuring commitment

Bergus said her call to eliminate the open police positions and divert those funds to other programs could result in a shift of $900,000 to $1.5 million, depending on whether her colleagues agree with her that a larger shift is warranted.

She said the city could use the money to invest in stable housing, food aid, clean water, access to jobs and education, physical and mental health, freedom of movement and opportunities for entertainment and enrichment.

Bergus said she's had conversations with City Manager Geoff Fruin and Liston and told them she doesn't think the city is living up to the 2020 plan to restructure the department, particularly when it comes to the goal of reducing interactions with armed officers.

She said in she has common ground with Liston and Fruin on their goals for the city but they disagree on the how quickly it can move.

For instance, she said the city isn't spending nearly enough to bolster the capacity of the nonprofit CommUnity's Mobile Crisis Response, which is intended to help with calls for mental health issues.

She said the city being in a "tight budget year" is also a reason she is proposing the changes. Cities and counties in Iowa are facing increasing headwinds from the Iowa Legislature as it passes property tax reform. The Legislature also recently passed a bill that fixed a miscalculation in property tax revenue from cities, meaning communities like Iowa City will get less revenue than expected.

Iowa City is not alone in facing decisions on its budget due to these factors. Some cities in the Des Moines metro also are considering allocating less money to police.

Bergus is one of four members of Iowa City Council whose seats are up for grabs this November. She and newly-appointed council member Andrew Dunn have announced they intend to run in November but council members Pauline Taylor and John Thomas have yet to make their intentions known.

Bergus, alongside former Councilor Janice Weiner, was instrumental in founding the city's Ad Hoc Truth and Reconciliation Commission and has been the commission's most vocal supporter on City Council through a rocky two years. The commission, among other goals, is tasked with coming up with ways to reform policing in Iowa City but has yet to hire a facilitator.

Bergus said her essay was published in The Prairie Progressive and she participated in a civic cafe, or forum, about issues it addressed with fellow council members Megan Alter and John Thomas.

"I don't know where my colleagues will land, but I think... this is not like a showdown," Bergus said.

Liston agreed in a January council work session that he wasn't being ambushed with this proposal said he and Bergus have talked about it for a while. But the two disagree on what Bergus is proposing.

"Obviously this is not what (Liston) wants. His department provides a service in a certain way and he's doing his job and saying that in order to provide this certain service in this certain way we need certain resources. And we disagree," Bergus said.

More:Iowa Poll: Majorities of Iowans favor property tax cuts, eliminating personal income tax

How to participate in Iowa City Council meetings

Want to share your thoughts on the Iowa City budget? To participate in the April 4 council meeting, either show up in person or participate via Zoom using the instructions posted at icgov.org/councildocs. The meeting also will be livestreamed on YouTube, City Channel 4 and on the city's Facebook page, but those offer no option to speak.

The meeting will have a "community comments" section, but anyone wishing to comment on the budget will have to wait for the public hearing later on the agenda.

There is a sign-in sheet for people seeking to address the council. Each person gets three minutes and can keep track of their time with a timer on the council dais. Speakers must begin by stating their name and their city of residence.

Teague, the mayor, may further restrict the amount of time for each speaker or the number of speakers if they sign up in large numbers.

Liston said he intends to speak Tuesday and Bergus will likely offer her amendment to the budget after the public hearing is over. She would need another council member to second her motion for it to be voted on.

George Shillcock is the Press-Citizen's local government and development reporter covering Iowa City and Johnson County. He can be reached at (515) 350-6307, GShillcock@press-citizen.com and on Twitter @ShillcockGeorge

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Iowa City Councilor Laura Bergus to propose police budget reduction