Greeley public safety chiefs highlight needs as growth continues ...Saudi Arabia

Greeley first responders will continue to stretch their budgets and look for other funding opportunities after a proposed sales tax increase to benefit the city’s police and firefighters once again failed to make it to the ballot.

Though the city’s top public safety officials say they’re well-positioned to keep the community safe, the city’s continued growth means critical needs are adding up.

The Greeley City Council mulled over a handful of proposed tax increases this year, but none found their way to the ballot. Only one of the proposed options is now 0 for 2 in making the ballot the past two years — one that benefits public safety.

“I know it’s not personal,” Police Chief Adam Turk said. “(City council members) still support public safety. It’s just a decision on what they think voters want or don’t want.”

Greeley currently has a 0.16% public safety tax that funnels money directly into the police and fire departments.

This year, that tax was budgeted to provide $3.549 million across the two departments. That is just 4.81% of the department’s combined $73.768 million budgets.

For Police, that meant they needed to fund another $42.42 million and Fire another $27.79 million to stay afloat.

Basically all of that money must come from the general fund. And with just about every department in the city dipping into that fund for one reason or another, there’s only so much to go around.

“With all the growth coming, the question is, ‘How do we fund it?’ ” Turk said. “Because the general fund funds several different programs and departments. So the nerve-wracking parts for me, and Fire for that matter, is how do we continue services or even expand them in public in a growing community.”

The proposed tax increase last year would have brought that 0.16% public safety tax up to 0.41%. That failed to reach the budget due to a lack of public support as the council looked to pass an extension on the food tax and a debt issuance to pay for traffic projects.

This year was a bit of déjà vu as another public safety tax increase — this one to 0.5% — failed to garner enough support.

“I don’t think this year, the atmosphere is available for adding more burden on the citizens of Greeley by way of raising taxes,” Mayor Pro Tem Dale Hall said.

It wasn’t just the public safety tax that didn’t make the ballot. The council looked at three other potential sales tax increases: housing and homelessness, economic development and a joint public health and safety. None of them made the ballot.

But why? First and foremost, the city council didn’t see the public support it needed.

In a study of 600 Greeley residents selected at random, none of the four proposed tax increases had definite support of more than 30%. All four proposed increases also had higher definite opposition than definite support.

“For something to be successful on a ballot, it usually polls at like 65%,” Councilwoman Melissa McDonald said. “None of the initiatives that we were looking at polled that high.”

The public safety tax had just 16% definite support, compared to 45% definite opposition. Fifty-three percent of those on the fence, however, somewhat supported the public safety tax, opposed to just 45% who said they somewhat opposed it.

The results of that poll fed into to many council members’ belief that between the local and national economies, this again wasn’t the year to put tax increases before voters.

“With the economy, inflation, interest rates, even the increase in stormwater fees because that needed to be done,” McDonald said. “It’s just a combination of everything that it just wasn’t a good time to be putting it on the ballot.”

Hall also said he would like to see a deeper look taken at the current budget before taking the matter to voters, because he believes they really only have one shot to put it on the ballot. If it failed, it may be years before they are again able to ask voters for extra funding.

“I would like to take this budget year and find out exactly what they’re asking for,” Hall said. “Because I’m 100% supportive of both the fire and police department needs so that we can have good quality public safety and that type of thing. So I want to make sure they’re not overlooking something within the budgeting process right now.”

The needs

Running a police or fire department begins with staffing. Just over 73% of both the police and fire departments’ budgets go directly to staffing. For the police department, that is $31.92 million in 2025. For the fire department, it’s $22.36 million.

“We have a minimum number of people we need on duty every day,” Fire Chief Brian Kuznik said. “So with people out on vacation, military leave, extended leave for medical or whatever else, what I’m having to do is call somebody in off duty to come and work. So that creates an overtime shift. And in many cases, we’re having to force people to work these overtime shifts because our staffing factor is low. We just don’t have enough people to absorb that when people call in sick or vacancies occur.”

But it’s not as simple as just adding more officers or firefighters. Because, as Turk said, more cops means more arrests and more evidence. And that means they need more people behind the scenes to handle the additional workload.

“It’s a struggle of mine, trying to explain to the community the need of support services,” Turk said. “You need support services to inventory and manage the evidence inventory and manage all the new videos from your body-worn camera program. And you need those people that do the quality control of the police reports and the NABORS reporting of our crime stats. Our support services are really what keeps this place moving behind the scenes.”

In Kuznik’s case, staffing more firefighters means more beds are needed and more infrastructure to support them in doing their jobs.

“Adequate staffing is critical, but it comes hand in hand. We need a place to put our people, right?” Kuznik said. “They’ve got to be functioning and operating out of a facility that is conducive to what they need.”

Station 6 — the department’s first new station since 2001 — opened in 2020. Station 2 was rebuilt that same year. But not all of Greeley’s seven stations were created equal.

“Fire Station 4 was operationalized in 1979, and it just doesn’t meet our needs for what a modern fire station should be providing our firefighters,” Kuznik said. “And then we have Fire Station 5 that we’ve outgrown by Monfort Park.”

Greeley’s population has boomed over the past few decades. And city officials expect the city’s population — which currently sits around 116,000 — to double by 2060.

“We are responding in a timely manner,” Kuznik said. “But as the city continues to grow, as the population increases, we will likely see an increase in call volume year after year.”

Greeley Police have been over their six-minute response time goal for the highest-priority calls for the past three years, but have been on a downward trend since peaking at 7.24 minutes in 2022. In 2024, police responded to the highest-priority calls in an average of 6.17 minutes.

After Greeley Fire response times went down every year from 2020 to 2023, they increased for the first time this decade in 2024. While both EMS (4 minutes, 31 seconds) and Fire (4:50) are under the five-minute goal, Kuznik said part of that is second calls coming in while crews are already out responding to another call for service. It’s especially a problem at Station 2, 2323 Reservoir Road.

“What’s happening at Fire Station 2, because it’s a very densely populated area and it’s only served by one fire apparatus, was call volumes continue to increase in that district, and inevitably we get two or more calls occurring in that district quite frequently,” Kuznik said. “So when Engine 2 is out on a call and another call pops up, we’re having to bring in a Greeley fire engine in from another district.”

Kuznik said Station 2 has around a 20% concurrency rate, meaning a second call comes in 20% of the time crews are already responding to a first call. Station 1, 1155 10th Ave., has a similar concurrency rate, Kuznik said, but since it is serviced by an engine and a ladder truck, it is able to handle the increased volume.

One of Kuznik’s proposed solutions: a peak demand unit that could be staffed strategically to relieve some of that burden and lower response times.

“We want to put into service this peak demand unit that would service not only District 2 but the larger district,” Kuznik said. “It could be in place either when we experience high call volume or an entire 24-hour shift. That’s still to be determined.”

And though Station 6, 10603 W. 20th St., is nowhere near overburdened yet — responding to roughly 350 calls per year opposed to upwards of 2,000 at some of Greeley’s busier stations — Kuznik envisions that changing very quickly with the influx of new roofs going up soon as part of the West Greeley Project.

Turk sees it the same way, which is why one of the proposed uses of the funding, were it to come through, was a joint public safety complex to be shared by both departments.

“We know that we need a substation somewhere out west to respond during the shift change or if an officer is at the department getting equipment,” Turk said. “To drive from here (the department’s station at 2875 W. 10th St.) to County Road 17 is a far drive even with lights and sirens on.”

Turk added that police need quick highway access to both U.S. 34 and 10th Street, making a location near Promontory a natural fit.

Both Kuznik and Turk said they will continue to look at grants and other funding options. But both realize sooner or later, their departments will need more money coming in.

“With our current resources, it’s probably not realistic to add 12,000 homes and all that retail and say, ‘Hey, can you make that happen?’ ” Turk said. “I don’t think that’s possible.”

But both also shared their gratitude for working somewhere that supports public safety services the way Greeley does. Even if they are stuck waiting on this financial aspect of that support.

“I feel very fortunate to work in a community — and for an organization — but really a community that is so supportive of public safety,” Kuznik said. “We’re in a good position, but we have some critical needs right now.”

Hence then, the article about greeley public safety chiefs highlight needs as growth continues was published today ( Saturday 20/09/2025 - 02:56 PM ) and is available on GreeleyTribune ( Saudi Arabia ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Greeley public safety chiefs highlight needs as growth continues )

Also on site :

• Chalkboard promo code NYPOST: Get a 100% deposit match up to $100 + free pick for the NFL Playoffs
• Man City star Phil Foden 'suffers broken hand' during Manchester derby embarrassment
• UNC Bears women’s basketball player grabs 500th career rebound