SULLIVAN COUNTY, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Talk of a public safety tax is something buzzing amongst first responders in Sullivan County and many of them believe the public isn’t aware of how short-staffed public safety is as well as the conditions first responders are working in.
When it comes to public safety in Sullivan County, many first responders are concerned about a lack of funding, which is leading to a lack of pay and personnel shortages.
Sullivan City Police Chief Micheal Garrett said the department is currently operating at about 50% staffed.
That’s something Chief Deputy, Josh Cary, of the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Department said is concerning. He said the Sheriff’s Office relies on the city police officers for back up and vice versa.
“Salaries is a big part of that, (lack of officers) being competitive with surrounding counties, with the Sheriff’s Department as well as State Police,” Garrett said. “They’re all paying quite a bit more, so trying to retain people or get people to apply, we have to have competitive wages.”
Chief Garrett said the city police aren’t alone, “Fire departments, the police departments, SCAT (Sullivan County Ambulance Team), they’re all running in the same boat where they don’t have the revenue stream to pay competitive wages comparative to surrounding counties.”
Cary said several first responders in the community have come together to bring awareness to other local leaders about the need for funding and the benefits a public safety local income tax (LIT) could have on addressing public safety concerns.
“We’ve been fortunate that our county leaders have been willing to listen, and we’ve had open dialogue with them. So, I’m hoping that continues, and we can kind of work toward a resolution,” Cary said.
Sullivan Mayor JD Wilson understands the need.
“We’re one of few counties in the whole state of Indiana that does not have a public safety tax. If something doesn’t change, we’re going to have to change our services. We don’t want that,” Wilson said.
Knox County created a public safety LIT tax about a year ago and Vincennes Mayor Joe Yochum said they did it out of necessity.
“We had no choice but to put in a public safety tax,” Yochum said. “The extra money’s not there and the state has pretty much put every community in this position with tax caps. Public Safety LIT helped us bring those salaries up and we’re going to see a big reduction in loss of officers.”
“We owe it to our constituents, our people that we represent to provide those services,” Wilson said. “When you pick up a phone, you want somebody to respond if you’re having an emergency.”
So, what can a concerned citizen do?
“I think they just need to follow up first of all with public safety, people that they know. Fire, police, ambulance services, talk to them. The other thing would be to follow up with their county council. Show up to meetings, let them know that this is a need,” Garrett said. “They want to have police, fire, EMS response when they need them. And they don’t want to have those extended wait times,” he added.
“We want to bring awareness to the public, to the taxpayers, we want people to support their first responders and we’re pretty confident that the people in Sullivan County are going to support their first responders,” Cary said.
While first responders in Sullivan County are the ones bringing awareness to the need for public safety funds, ultimately something like a public safety tax will fall on the responsibility of the Sullivan County Council.
Mywabashvalley.com will check in with local leaders and this continues to develop.
