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The City of Toledo, hat in hand and claiming pauper status,
will sheepishly petition local taxpayers for more money on
the March 15 primary ballot. Some, but not all, of the new
tax revenue will be used to repair streets.
Round and round it goes, but where the money actually lands,
no one knows. Administration officials are not saying
specifically how the extra revenues will be distributed, in
what is a very challenged 2016 municipal budget.
A
safe bet is that much of the new money could end up paying
for fire and police salaries, which currently make up a
whopping 88 percent of the operating budget, thanks to
negotiations with a previous administration.
While local safety forces are much valued and perform at an
outstanding level, a way must be found that makes our
community actually safer and more equitable without
devouring such a sizable portion of the budget.
And,
Now is the time!
Large philanthropic organizations such as the Ford
Foundation and the MacArthur Fund, along with community
activists, argue that over-incarceration and disparate
minority contact with police are what actually decreases
public safety and that public dollars are better-spent
reducing inequality and disparities.
Foundations and
corporations across the country, along with the federal
government, have recently begun to enthusiastically support
programs to help reduce inequality.
Certainly, our
local government will also need to play a major role in
reducing racial disparities, especially in areas such as the
criminal justice system where the high rate of incarceration
among minorities is alarming.
Lucas County,
recipient of a MacArthur Fund grant to reduce the jail
population,
has already attempted to address this issue. Local
stakeholders, known as The Lucas County Criminal Justice
Reform Working Group, have been working to develop and adopt
a Community Plan to reform the many toxic effects that jails
and arrests have on the community and the lives of
nonviolent offenders and pretrial detainees.
The plan will be integrated into an application for an
additional grant of up to $2 million, designed to implement
innovative ways to encourage local law enforcement officers
to use community based alternatives to arrests, develop
expedited pretrial reviews and devise standardized
assessments to measure an inmate’s risk of flight or threat
to the public.
Public safety is actually increased or enhanced, funders
say, by diverting funding from jail and incarceration costs
to social services including prevention, educational
enrichment, and alternative detention programming.
One promising idea that is currently making its way through
the grapevine, suggests that an annual $1 million joint
community economic/social services development fund should
be created, to which organizations with innovative
projects/programs would be eligible to apply.
It is recommended that an external review committee of say,
nine persons made up of members from philanthropy, city
council, the Lucas County Commissioners, the Mayor’s staff
and several grassroots community members be set up. This
committee would review proposals and make recommendations
for funding.
How would the community development fund be resourced?
The City of Toledo and Lucas County would each contribute
$500,000 annually along with philanthropic offerings from
such notables as the Toledo Community Foundation and the
United Way.
Will it work?
If we are going to reduce disparities and have a community
that is truly safe, budget reform is critically needed.
For, as Councilwoman Sandy Spang has argued, too much
department fat and budget pork is hazardous to the health of
our community.
But also, and most importantly, the City and Lucas County
must end their family feud, iron out their differences and
begin to work collaboratively on the jail, policing and
criminal justice reform. Our safety demands it.
And,
If not now, when?
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
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