Brighton City Council to consider public safety sales tax for more police officers
A proposal to increase sales tax in the city of Brighton to fund more police officer positions in the city is set to head for city council consideration next week.
Brighton police tell CBS Colorado after conducting a survey within the community about increasing the city's sales tax by 0.15% to fund 12 new police officer positions, 63% of people who responded were in support of it.
Now, it's up to city council to decide if this proposal will move forward for a vote in the upcoming November election.
"We want to make sure that the residents of Brighton get the policing services that they expect and demand and what that looks like for us is that proactive policing," said Brighton Police Chief Matthew Domenico.
Domenico has been helping to lead the push for this public sales tax increase to become a reality.
"It's about 15 cents on a $100 purchase and that is expected to generate over $2 million a year in revenues dedicated solely to the police department," said Domenico.
Part of the motivation to create more police positions is the overwhelming growth taking place within Brighton's city limits.
"We've seen about a 10,000-person population increase in the last 10 years," he said.
Gabriella Wilkinson and her family are among the newest residents to call Brighton home.
"With our five children, safety is a high priority for my family," said Wilkinson.
Domenico say the current police force stands at 85 officers but adding 12 new positions would also help the city target spikes in crime and safety trends from auto thefts, violent crime, and overdoses.
"If we added 12 additional positions, what that would really provide is make sure that each shift has a sufficient number of officers, a sufficient number of patrol officers to get those prompt response time to high priority calls for service," said Domenico.
Even though Montoya is a Thornton resident, he says he is still supportive of contributing to the funding of future officer when making purchases in Brighton.
"I think the community will feel more safer with more officers," said Montoya.
"If they're here, they're using the resources. If they're here they're benefitting from an increase in police presence," said Wilkinson. "I think its worth it, honestly, the safety of my children is worth whatever it takes."
City council will consider putting the sales tax increase on the November ballot at their upcoming meeting on Aug.15.
If the sales tax proposals is put on the November and voters pass it, the change would officially take effect next year.