Decorah City Council will consider plan to add one police officer

When the Decorah City Council begins work on a budget for the next fiscal year, it will look at a proposal to add one police officer to the staff of the Decorah Police Department.

The additional officer would cost around $68,000 in salary and fringe benefits.  "It all comes down to funding," noted city council member Jody Niess.

City council member Gary Rustad says he'd like to see the cost of a new officer put in the budget and then determine where funding could come from. 

City council members made the proposal Tuesday night after meeting with Decorah Police Chief Bill Nixon and other members of the police department.  Nixon told the city council members there is feqeuntly just one officer in the field from 4:00 a.m. until 7:00 a.m. and that "is not a safe situation."

NIxon noted that vacation days, sick days and training days make it hard to keep a schedule for police.  He also noted that drug cases are on the rise again, especially the investigation of meth labs.

Decorah City Administrator Chad Bird noted that when it comes to the police department's budget, unlike the budgets of other departments such as Parks & Recreation, which brings in money from fees, the police department's budget "is all expense."  Decorah Police had applied for a federal grant to pay for the cost of an additional officer, but they did not receive it.  The 2014-2015 City of Decorah budget is expected to have around $70,000 in "new money" from higher property tax collections because of an increase in assessed values, but there are many demands for that new money.