Councilman Neven Conrad said he is “more than willing” to spend more money to hire more officers.

And Councilman Terry Moehnke said the council needs to “look at bringing in additional police officers.” He said the city has a reputation for a “large drug issue” and lots of crime.

“The perception is that we’re not doing anything,” he said.

Conrad and Moehnke made their comments as the elected officials reviewed the proposed 2020-2021 budget for the 40-member force.

The spending plan doesn’t include any money for additional officers. City Manager David Fierke estimated that adding one officer to each of the four patrol shifts would cost $150,000.

“Adding a cop to each shift is a big thing,” he said.

During Monday’s council workshop, a discussion about potentially purchasing a drone for the Police Department evolved into a debate about adding more officers.

Conrad asked Police Chief Roger Porter if he has considering buying a drone.

Porter replied that the Webster County Emergency Management Agency might buy one that could be used by any public safety agency in the county.

“I’d be more than willing to put up those costs so we have that tool to protect our officers and our citizens,” Conrad said.

He added “I’m more than willing to spend more tax money to increase the number of officers.”

A few minutes later, Moehnke offered a series of suggestions to deal with the perceived crime and drug problem. His list included more lighting downtown, aggressively trimming trees around street lights so that the lights aren’t blocked, and putting officers out on foot patrol. He concluded by saying he believes the council needs to consider hiring more officers. He added that be believes the citizens would support that.

Fierke said the $150,000 needed to hire one more officer for each shift is a “big chunk of money.”

“It’s not easy to do that without doing something drastic someplace else,” he added.

He said money would have to be cut from another department that’s paid for through the city’s general fund in order to add that much money to the Police Department budget.

The general fund pays for police and fire protection, parks and recreation, the library, the Blanden Memorial Art Museum and a handful of other government functions. Most of its money comes from property taxes. However, state law limits how much money the city can raise through taxes for its general fund. That limit is a maximum levy of $8.10 per $1,000 of taxable value plus an emergency levy of 27 cents per $1,000 of taxable value. The Fort Dodge city government is now levying the maximum amount of $8.10 per $1,000 of taxable value and the 27 cents per $1,000 of taxable value.

Conrad said those limits have been in place since 1974, and haven’t been changed since then.

“Communities our size are stressing on that $8.10 levy limit,” Conrad said. “It is time for the Legislature to do something.”

The proposed budget of $3,286,800 doesn’t include a lot of changes from the current spending plan, according to Porter.

The budget does include money to buy three new Ford Explorer patrol vehicles.

Proposed 2020-2021 budgets reviewed by the Fort Dodge City Council Monday.

Ambulance

• Current: $1,513,566

• Proposed: $1,334,960

Fire

• Current: $2,156,815

• Proposed: $2,722,765

Police

• Current: $3,015,100

• Proposed: $3,286,800