Nelson: Don't buy the 'copaganda,' Erie taxpayers spend enough on police

For the better part of the last two decades, the Erie Police Department has been at about 168 officers. In the first year of Mayor Joe Schember’s administration, the police budget was just over $30 million, accounting for 37.8% of the operating expenses. City Council recently approved a historically diverse hiring class and passed a resolution that the Erie Police Department would be 175 in 2024 with a budget over $40 million, accounting for over 41% of the city's operating budget. Compared to Reading and Allentown, similar-sized cities in our state that have higher poverty and crime rates, we have the most police per capita and highest spending percentage. We have expanded that lead even further.

Yet the Fraternal Order of Police is suggesting that this record funding is a matter of us "defunding" the police. That is called "copaganda," or police propaganda, in my opinion. The budgets are public and verifiable. I will admit, the majority of City Council did come up with a compromise to reduce the salary liabilities that the city had asked taxpayers to take on with the one-time revenue source of the American Rescue Plan to something we saw as more sustainable. Let us not lie about it though, City Council INCREASED police funding.

Background:Erie City Council OKs 9 new police officers, but $14.5M public safety plan in jeopardy

Every service in the city wants more money. Public Works certainly would not mind being able to pave more roads or put some more plow trucks out this winter. The average compensation of five police officers is the same expense as 4 miles of road. How do Erie residents feel about potholes and snowplows? Our street paving is funded by three sources, none of it is directly our taxes, and one of those sources will be drying up next year. We have only given Public Works enough funding for 6 miles of roads out of more than 300 miles of roads this year. We do not know if we have money to pave next year with our bonds having run out. I appreciate seeing Millcreek Township pave 29 miles this year. Maybe they even bury some faster fiber optic internet with that paving. In Erie, there’s no budget growing as fast as police.

The administration's position:Mayor, police chief: Public safety central to Erie growth and success

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I am mostly proud of the plans that the Schember administration has made for the ARP funds. Most of it is focused on transformational growth. Much of it will hopefully result in housing and economic growth that will lead to greater future revenue sources for the city. The biggest questions that we asked entities before giving funding was "Will this be leveraged?" and "How will it be sustained after ARP funding?" Yet somehow, when it came time to evaluate the plans for money kept at City Hall to fund an expansion of the police department, the Council was not given answers. We were told that this splurge was a "surge" and that in four years we likely would not have anything to show for it numerically, but would offer the new services with a complement the same size that we have in 2026. If we can do all of this with 173 in 2026, do it with 173.

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As we asked if funds were sustainable and leverageable, I saw what we did and did not fund. Out of these proposed funds, $6 million were for police to address domestic violence, mental health, and homelessness. Let us ask if police are the most cost-effective solution. We told Mercy Center for Women that we did not have enough funds to help them build 17 apartments for homeless women and families fleeing domestic abuse. We are sending SafeNet only $300,000 of their $600,000 request because we did not have enough funds. We spent a little over $1.5 million on youth programs, the largest of which was a new headquarters for the Police Athletic League. But we turned down numerous good preventive and deterrent programs in favor of a four-year $4 million juvenile division. Let us revisit those preventative solutions. Like the saying goes, "an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure" and I am worried that at the end it is the taxpayer that will be pounded.

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The community needs to understand how city services are funded. Roads are funded with federal money, liquid fuel money, and expiring bonds. Police are funded almost dollar for dollar with property taxes. In the city of Erie, property taxes are about $40 million and so is the police budget. In Millcreek, both are $13 million. Harborcreek Township has never funded the police and has managed to not raise taxes in three decades.

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If the police want to accuse City Council of defunding the police, let us compare tax bills. One hundred percent of City Council members live in the city of Erie. The Erie police chief has a house outside the city that is assessed at twice as much as mine, yet he pays one-third the amount of municipal police funding. That goes for about two-thirds of our officers. Officers living in Fairview or Harborcreek have completely defunded local police there. They accuse us of defunding the police? No one in this region funds police like we do in the city of Erie! People move to avoid funding police with their taxes like we do.

Chuck Nelson is a member of Erie City Council.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: City Councilman Nelson says Erie taxpayers spend enough on police