IT'S NOT TIME TO CONSIDER ANOTHER TAX HIKE

I’m writing in response to the December 19, 2013 Times Delta editorial.  Just a few months ago, a blue-ribbon Citizens’ Committee said that it was not the right time to raise the sales tax.  Now some are already broaching the topic again, this time suggesting that such monies could be used to construct a new public safety facility (PSF, aka “police headquarters”). 

At our last meeting, the city council did the responsible thing and voted to go forward with the Visalia Emergency Communication Center (VECC, aka “911 call center”).  However, the council also decided that we don’t currently have the money to build a new PSF.  Let me explain why.

Our existing police headquarters is about 19,000 square feet.  The new VECC by itself will be 19,642 square feet and will cost $16 million, plus an additional $5 million worth of the latest technology.  If we add on a new headquarters,that will increase the size another 36,000 to 42,000 square feet, and increase the cost an additional $36 million to $45 million.  A separate evidence storage building, 13,643 square feet, would add at least another $6 million to that cost.

While the city has had budget surpluses last year and this year and our reserves are growing again, the city’s general fund doesn’t have this type of money to spend.   What this newspaper didn’t report were my suggestions at council meeting regarding looking at other alternatives, such as remodeling our current police headquarters.  Once the new VECC is completed, a large amount of existing square footage will become available as the occupants of our current 911 center and our fire department administration will move their offices into the new VECC building.  A good remodeling job can bring these spaces up to modern standards, at a fraction of the cost of building a new police headquarters that triples the size of what we already have!

A case in point is the old Tulare County Municipal Courthouse on Center Street.  That approximately 11,000 square foot building was deemed surplus about 15 years ago by the county, and sold to a private investor.  The county is now leasing space elsewhere, and the Tulare County Association of Governments (TCAG) is leasing back the remodeled municipal courthouse!  Imagine the rent payments the county could be saving if they had remodeled, rather than sold that building at a fire sale price.

On the other hand, Visalia city administration is spread out in at least three locations, City Hall North (Transit Center), City Hall East (Convention Center), and City Hall West (City Hall).  What if instead, in addition to remodeling our existing police headquarters, we focus our resources, without a tax increase, and proceeded with a less costly new Civic Center/City Hall?  A few years back, I took my wife on an anniversary cruise in Europe.  Without exception, every city we visited had as its focal point their city hall.  Not one of those cities had as its centerpiece a new police headquarters.  Additionally, if we had the ability to move all of the city administration into one building, not only would that increase efficiencies for our city staff, and provide a new focal point of pride in Visalia, but it would open up the entire block where City Hall is now next to the existing police headquarters for future police headquarters expansion if needed.  I would suggest that a spanking new police headquarters three times the size of what we currently have, will not make Visalians feel safer.  Perhaps more officers or a new substation would.  Nor do we need a new tax that is searching for a project to spend it on.

Our police department does a terrific job in protecting and serving the citizens of Visalia.  I merely write this so that the public discussion can focus on exploring all alternatives, rather than assuming that the only option we have is to spend money which we don’t have on additional square footage which we don’t need.

Visalia Times Delta Guest Editorial, December 26, 2013