Waukegan Rejects Federal Money To Hire More Cops
CHICAGO (WBBM) -- The mayor of Waukegan says his city will turn down more than $2 million from the federal government that was to be used to hire eight new police officers.
The head of a statewide police union, meanwhile, says he's baffled by the decision.
The U.S. Department of Justice had awarded the city of Waukegan $2.28 million in so-called COPS grant money.
Waukegan Mayor Bob Sabonjian tells Newsradio 780 that accepting the money would put his financially troubled city in even worse financial shape in the long run.
The COPS money covers the salaries for eight officers for three years. But, the grant requires Waukegan and any other police department that gets the grant, to pay for a fourth year of salaries on their own.
It would also require Waukegan to maintain current staffing levels, something Sabonjian says he cannot promise to do.
He says, "We would love to be able to have the officers, but the problem is the finances".
In fact, Sabonjian says Waukegan's finances are so poor that unless the city council OKs an increase in the property tax levy on Dec. 20, there could be layoffs of police and other Waukegan city workers.
Waukegan faces a $5 million budget deficit next year.
A statewide police union, meanwhile, is criticizing Waukegan's decision.
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Sean Smoot, executive director of the Police Benevolent Labor Committee, says he's baffled Waukegan is rejecting the money--especially with the crime there.
Smoot says Waukegan "requires a lot of policing and has a lot of problems" and that he'd think it would be well worth it for the city to take the federal government up on the offer.
Smoot says it's a "tremendous opportunity" for Waukegan at a time other cities and towns around the country are clamoring for those COPS grants.
Smoot says, with the bleak jobs situation in Waukegan, the city would want to add as many jobs as they could, "let alone good police jobs".
The COPS money was awarded in September. The grant rules indicate that, any municipality that does not accept the money within 90 days could lose the grant and have the money given to another police department that has applied.
