Committee endorses tax funds for take-home Joplin police cars
Nov. 7—Residents serving on a committee that oversees the use of some Joplin sales and use tax revenue voted Wednesday to support a recommendation to provide funding toward the cost of buying and maintaining take-home cars for police officers if the City Council approves of the details.
City Manager Nick Edwards presented initial guidelines of a take-home car program for the department's 113 existing officers along with costs and funding options at the meeting. He said that information would be presented to City Council at its meeting Monday night.
He presented four funding options, but the use tax committee endorsed only two because the others did not involve a request for use or sales tax funding.
Edwards asked for support to use $771,000 in future Proposition B sales tax funding to help pay for the take-home program.
Proposition B was approved by voters to pay off the Police and Firefighters Retirement Fund and transfer public safety workers into a new retirement plan. The city will propose a renewal of Proposition B in 2026-2027, when those pension costs are expected to be paid in full.
If the take-home car program is implemented Jan. 1, it is proposed that take-home cars would be provided to officers who reside within 25 miles of the Joplin Police Department who have a minimum of three years of service with the department. Edwards said that the city would need to purchase either 23 or 32 cars that when combined with the existing cars in the fleet could be used as take-home cars.
He said that the cost of buying 32 new cars could be paid with about $2.7 million from the general fund and/or the public safety sales tax reserved funds. That program would involve several spending categories:
—Nearly $519,000 a year for reoccurring costs to replace cars that reach 100,000 miles in use.
—$112,000 in maintenance costs for the fleet.
—$69,000 for a full-time mechanic to do maintenance.
—$56,000 for insurance.
—About $16,000 a year for fuel.
The number of cars includes eight that would be designated as pool cars to use when officers' cars are in the shop or otherwise unavailable.
Because the police department does not have a full staff of officers, the second option would be to buy 23 new cars instead of 32 at a cost of more than $1.9 million, using money from the general fund and/or the public safety sales tax reserves.
Police Chief Richard Pearson said that take-home cars have become an industry standard. It is a recruiting and retention tool that could help the department fill its ranks because there is a national shortage of available officers.
Several members of the sales tax committee said that when they spoke to voters the city made a commitment to add more officers and enhance public safety by using taxes approved by voters for that purpose.
The police chief was asked if more wages could be offered in lieu of take-home cars. A committee member said take-home cars were being looked at as an extra but that it is an essential tool of doing the job. The community was promised more police officers and the pay to keep them on the job.
Another member said the overall concern of residents was to attract and retain officers and that she believed take-home cars bolster that goal.
One committee member said that having police cars parked at officers' homes could create more safety in those neighborhoods and on the streets. However, another committee member questioned how the police cars would help safety in Joplin if they are parked at residences outside the city.
The issue of take-home cars was raised at City Council earlier this year and proposed during budget meetings in September by the police chief. Several council members said providing those cars could improve response times in emergencies because officers could fill the cars with the gear they need to carry with them instead of having to transfer those items from their personal vehicles.
At the budget session, council members supported a motion by member Charles "Chuck" Copple to fund the purchase of 16 take-home cars for a start on the program.
