Mike Morowit thinks its time the City Council gave Manteca residents the opportunity to decide whether to increase the special tax for public safety personnel.

The councilman looked at the proposed budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.

The command staff of the Manteca Police Department felt they needed a minimum of 5 more officers but they were only being allocated 2 more officers.

Morowit then looked at the bottom line of the $67.8 million balanced general fund budget. There was only $10,777 to spare.

Department heads identified a pressing need for 30 new city workers. The proposed budget funded only 16.

Pressing capital expenditure requests of $14.2 million to replace items such as aging vehicles, equipment almost worn out, and outdated emergency communication systems were made but  only $10.  million was funded,

A closer look showed the remaining $8.6 million in one-time federal COVID relief funds is covering all of the capital expenditures coming from the general fund.

Then Morowit looked at the cost of $181,000 to put an additional police officer on the streets when it comes to basic salary — no overtime — and benefits.

“We’re going to have to look at some type of public safety tax if we want more (police officers and firefighters),” Morowit said.

Morowit said he is open to a restricted tax — similar to the Measure M public safety half cent sales tax passed by voters in 2006.

The city is currently funding 18 of the 75 sworn officer positions in the police department and 18 of the 45 firefighters using Measure M funds.

There are a number of citizens who have repeatedly expressed the need for the city to aim for one officer for every 1,000 residents. There is no such recognized standard, however, advocated by either a federal agency or various law enforcement associations.

Given Manteca is expected to hit 90,000 residents this year and the proposed budget will boost the force to 77 officers, Manteca under the 1 officer per 1,000 residents measurement would be 13 officers short.

It’s a shortage Morowit said will keep growing if the city relied on general fund revenue sources such as property tax and the basic one cent sales tax the city collects.

Even if there was a measure on the ballot in 2024 and it was approved, it would be two years at least before the city would be able to start funding  more officers and firefighters via a special tax increase beyond what the general fund can handle.

Morowit said he believes citizens should at least have the right to decide if they want more police and firefighters and are willing to pay for it.

He noted the council has no legal power to raise sales tax, although they can place a measure on the ballot for voters to decide.

It’s an observation that Mayor Gary Singh seemed to agree with — although he stopped short on Wednesday of saying he was ready to back placing a measure regarding taxes for more frontline public safety personnel on an upcoming  ballot.

Singh has said he wants all of the city’s financial records in order before moving forward so that it is clear what resources Manteca has at its disposal.

For example, the 2021 audit is several months from being completed.

It is taking longer than a city normally would take because efforts are being made to address underlying issues that led to the city’s books being in disarray.

Since the discovery of financial irregularities— that could best be described as the city’s sloppy bookkeeping — the council has been given numbers that weren’t absolutely solid as ledgers were still be sorted out.

And while no financial malfeasance was unearthed, the lax procedures that were in place meant the city for several years didn’t have a firm handle on its bottom line.

Since the issue was unearthed  four years ago, the city has managed to clean up almost all related issues.

Once the 2021  audit— and then the 2022 audit — are completed, the numbers provided to the council will accurately reflect how much funds are in specific accounts. Much often than not the problems dealt with making sure funds that have restricted uses were properly accounted for in the city’s general ledger.

City Manager Toni Lundgren in her comments said the city’s plan for the upcoming fiscal year “may look to do some tax measure exploring.”

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com