Tenino mulls getting rid of police force to balance budget
TENINO, Wash. -- The city of Tenino is considering doing away with its police force in order to fix a huge budget crisis.
Tenino is a city with empty storefronts and an empty municipal checkbook. Its budget is $150,000 in the hole.
"If we don't act now with our present budget crisis, Tenino will fail," said Mayor Eric Strawn. "If we act as business as usual ... businesses will leave, the city will fail. It's just a matter of time."
So the mayor is proposing strong medicine. Over half the budget goes to police, so the mayor says the answer turning police over to the county or cutting it in half, from six to three.
"I am concerned about the city, because I am police chief of the city of Tenino. I believe crime will go up," said Tenino Police Chief John Hutchings.
Budget woes are the latest crisis to hit the Thurston County city. The city is already dealing with a recall against two councilmen, and the mayor's alleged dalliance inside a marked car.
"We need our guys here, whether it is one of two. We're not Mayberry; we are Tenino. And we need our officers just as much," said Tenino resident Jim Stevenson.
"I grew up in a small town. And we had one police officer, and he rode a bicycle," said Wayne Bray.
Residents will joke about their city's foibles, but at the end of the day, they want local police. So do the police chief and the mayor.
"Dissolving the police department -- would that save the city? If it does, that's only temporary, before you take a leg off or another arm off," said Hutchings.
"If Chief Hutchings can cut the budget enough to save our police department, I am in favor of that," said the mayor.
Right now, only the police department is on the line. But if the economy doesn't improve soon, the entire city could be on the line.
The mayor says unless Bill Gates or Warren Buffet invests in Tenino, it will be very hard to find that much money.
Tenino is a city with empty storefronts and an empty municipal checkbook. Its budget is $150,000 in the hole.
"If we don't act now with our present budget crisis, Tenino will fail," said Mayor Eric Strawn. "If we act as business as usual ... businesses will leave, the city will fail. It's just a matter of time."
So the mayor is proposing strong medicine. Over half the budget goes to police, so the mayor says the answer turning police over to the county or cutting it in half, from six to three.
"I am concerned about the city, because I am police chief of the city of Tenino. I believe crime will go up," said Tenino Police Chief John Hutchings.
Budget woes are the latest crisis to hit the Thurston County city. The city is already dealing with a recall against two councilmen, and the mayor's alleged dalliance inside a marked car.
"We need our guys here, whether it is one of two. We're not Mayberry; we are Tenino. And we need our officers just as much," said Tenino resident Jim Stevenson.
"I grew up in a small town. And we had one police officer, and he rode a bicycle," said Wayne Bray.
Residents will joke about their city's foibles, but at the end of the day, they want local police. So do the police chief and the mayor.
"Dissolving the police department -- would that save the city? If it does, that's only temporary, before you take a leg off or another arm off," said Hutchings.
"If Chief Hutchings can cut the budget enough to save our police department, I am in favor of that," said the mayor.
Right now, only the police department is on the line. But if the economy doesn't improve soon, the entire city could be on the line.
The mayor says unless Bill Gates or Warren Buffet invests in Tenino, it will be very hard to find that much money.
Raise your tax levy lid like they are trying to do onthe November ballot in Snoqualmie! We even allowed our Police force to expand to North Bend even though they said the number of officers per capita in Snoqualmie was less then ten years ago! By the way North Bend gets a five year fixed rate contract and guess who will incur additional taxes to support or add to existing?
I guess the new land annexation will pay for it? We were told that when the new city of Snoqualmie Ridge was annexed!
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More Department heads/CEO's, staff and personel=more jobs=more taxes=more debt=Sounds like Obama barrow more from China!
Fire the mayor and city council instead.
 @70MonteCarlo if it is anything like the extremely small town I live in, the city council members are paid about $30.00 per month, and the mayor has a day job too. That said, if you have reason to dislike them, that is your prerogative. Just pointing out the difference in terms of budget.Â
 @70MonteCarlo oh yeah- we did away with our local police force a few years back, and rely on county sheriffs. We're still broke and pay ridiculous rates for our water/sewer, due to having to upgrade an outdated facility a while back.
public safety should be the first priority of government.... any of the niceties like "parks" can come after the public's safety is provided for.Â
So if you're not budgeting for police and/or fire, at a minimum (if you don't have a volunteer department) what the heck ARE you budgeting for?!?
This is preposterous. Has Strawn even looked into what it would cost to hire the S.O. to provide service. NO! Tenino PD also provides services to the city of Rainier, recently (due to the ignorance of the previous Chief Gallagher and his ridiculous increase in the proposal for the city of Bucoda to pay for services they lost that contract), There is 1 AT MOST, deputy patroling that part of the county which is approximately 100 square miles alone, from the Grays Harbor County line to the Lewis County line and north to Littlerock and then over to the city of Rainier. Not only will it cost just as much as the current budget to contract with the S.O. it will probably cost MORE and at the cost of less availablity and increased stress on the 1 deputy (maybe 2) that patrol that district. This is a horrible idea and screams problems written all over it. The city promised growth with the sewer going in, they have incorparated more of the town on Old Hwy 99, now it is time to pool resources. Tenino PD has been threatened before with being shut down. This is a scare tactic and at the least Strawn's latest way to get attention on himself. City of Tenino work on the recall of him and then move forward.
Hire their cops so we can fire at least a couple of the criminals with badges in Seattle.Â
Just hang a huge neon sign stating, "welcome all criminals". What a concept.
 @alexcrowley When we lost our local cops (upper Skagit, population around 800 and no money), we did not get a dramatic upsurge in crime, so much as the same bunch of losers doing the same stuff (mostly property crimes) at about the same rate. That said, these fools at least know we're all armed up here because they're locals too. If I really needed help, I'd be calling my neighbors first, because it can take a long time for a county sheriff to get here if they're all busy down below in a bigger town.Â
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The reporting here should be more balanced. When the sheriff takes over they STILL have law enforcement but at 1/3 the cost. Why? No chief of Police, no staffing, no new vehicles. You WILL see more of this I promise.
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It would be nice to know what the County will charge them to take over. I guessed at 1/3. This could happen to at least a dozen towns in WA.
 @Say WhatÂ
I have always thought that as well....it will probably depend on what level of service they want.  Gold Bar has Snohomish County SO paroling there.  Liberty Lake has Spokane County SO but Liberty Lake has full-time deputies assigned.
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I remember hearing that it is about the same cost but not totally sure about that.
If the town doesn't have the money to support their own local police dept then they need to axe it. Plain and simple. Otherwise come up with a plan to keep what police you can (raising taxes, cutting benefits, whatever).
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I found that last statement by the mayor to be extremely tacky. Why the hell would Bill Gates or Warren Buffet want to invest in your little podunk town? Every time I've seen Tenino in the news, its been negative. The mayor messing around in his government issued car, a Tenino councilman racking up well over a hundred thousands dollars in property fines, and now the town's budget crisis. And this has all just been in the last 4-5 months.
 Snohomish did it no problems its a viable solution.
 @CrankyPanky http://www.ci.snohomish.wa.us/police/Police.htm
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Are you saying that do not have a police department?
Just think... if Mayor Strawn is successful in eliminating the police force, he'll have a few more newly decommissioned cop cars for those not-so-private intimate moments.
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The interesting thing about a police department is that it can also be a seller to new businesses and residents. Â When a city embraces that concept...it bodes well for them.
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If there is crime, graffiti, vandalism, and so forth...why would a business want to establish there?  Why would families want to move there?  The answer is they won't and thus the down fall continues.  Not that police departments are perfect at what they are asked to do but I would bet that there will be much less crime and so forth with them there versus not having them there.
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Agree or not...it is the nature of the business of building. Â People want to feel safe. Â Yes...they can police themselves. Â That will only last so long when they are doing it for free. Â Police departments bring a wealth of knowledge and insights to criminals in a city or county.
How many ways can you say, "Please rob me"?
Pretty sure Eatonville tried doing this a few months back and residents raised hell so they voted against it.... If it didn't work there it probably wont work here. Isn't Tenino even more rural than Eatonville?
Hmmm, nice advertisement for more crime.
I think they should replace the mayor and city council. From there decide on their future, it's a bloody circus in that town.
How about cut out the lavish public employee bennifits and retirments!
Time to consider a police reserve - not ideal, but certainly better than no police.Â
 @Komo Dragon That kind of "deputization" or "citizen militia" concept will probably be making more and more of a comeback in the future.
 @TheTruncheon not a militia in the classical sense. Reserve officers are volunteers that go thru the academy and are sworn in just the same, but they only serve a limited amount of time per month, and they serve without pay.
 @Komo Dragon Like the National Guard Reserves. Okay. Got it. Thanks.
 @TheTruncheon What with the tea bag militia extremists?  No Thanks