RDA Money for Public Safety Program?

City’s Redevelopment Agency’s decision to fund public safety
program needs a permanent solution
It’s a first in Morgan Hill – using redevelopment agency funds to pay for police officers.

It’s a decision that required some maneuvering to make it legal under RDA law.

First, City Council members adopted a 2007-2008 budget that allocates $256,000 in RDA funds to hire two police officers who will focus on crime suppression and gang activity in the RDA project area. Morgan Hill’s RDA area encompasses the valley floor west of U.S. 101 between the northern and southern city limits.

Next, City Council members, acting as directors of the city’s Redevelopment Agency, amended the RDA’s five-year plan spend $300,000 on a public safety program.

While we applaud creativity and thinking outside the box, we do share concerns expressed by City Councilman Greg Sellers, who cast the only vote against the RDA plan amendment.

City officials justify the addition of the public safety program to the RDA plan because business owners in the RDA area have said that they might close due to the perception of high crime. Prospective business owners have said that they chose not to locate to the RDA area for the same reason. RDA monies are to be primarily used for economic development purposes and to fight blight. 

Officials believe the program will alleviate those perceptions and stimulate economic activity by attracting new businesses and retaining existing businesses in the RDA project area. We agree with city officials on these points.

However, we worry that the paying for police officers with RDA funds is a temporary fix to a long-term problem: the understaffing of the Morgan Hill Police Department. 

Like Sellers, we feel strongly about increasing police services in the RDA area, but we believe our city leaders need to find a long-term funding solution to this problem, and that solution needs to serve the entire city.

“We should provide police services wherever they’re needed,” Sellers said in an e-mail message to Morgan Hill Times reporter Tony Burchyns.

We couldn’t agree more.

A Public Safety and Community Services Committee workshop will be held from 1-5pm on July 20 at City Hall to discuss public safety issues. We urge residents to attend this meeting to urge city officials to find a permanent solution to police understaffing that addresses the needs of the entire city.