Abby gives Colby take it or leave it option Police funding negotiations at 57.5-42.5%

The city of Abbotsford passed a proposal to fund 57.5% of the police budget, a 2.5% increase from 2023 at its council meeting on September 20. However, the proposal was not approved without a good amount of negotiations between the two municipalities prior to the council meeting.

Colby-Abbotsford Police Commission

The Colby-Abbotsford Police Commission was presented its 2024 budget at its September 18 meeting and therefore needed to decide what they wanted to recommend to their respective councils for the funding split of the two municipalities.

The members of the Colby city council started off the deliberations by stating what their council had agreed upon and asked them to bring to the table at the police commission meeting.

“We seem to think that the most fair way to do it is by assessed valuation,” commission president and Colby council member Todd Schmidt said.

That number would put the split at 63% for Abbotsford and 37% for Colby. With the 2024 total budget estimated at $902,612, taxpayers would be paying $568,645 in Abbotsford and $333,967 in Colby for 2024. That proposed increase for Abbotsford would add $81,942 to Abbotsford’s budget. That would be an eight percent difference from the current 55%/45% split Abbotsford and Colby pay now. Commissioner Dan Hederer rationalized with the council’s decision saying the approach would be the same way the Central Fire and EMS District divides its budget. Schmidt agreed with Hederer’s position.

“We’re not proposing we make Schmidt said. “Who knows? Five years from now, the gap may close where Colby might have a little bit more valuation and it might be a higher percentage for Colby.”

Abbotsford council member Sarah Diedrich told the commission that it was her understanding that the city of Abbotsford was paying in full the maintenance costs of the police department building despite an agreement signed in 2008 that said Colby should be paying 45% of the maintenance costs.

However, Police Chief Jason Bauer said when he has larger maintenance items done on the building, he submits bills to the police department as a budgeted item and it would have been split like any other item in the budget. For smaller items, he said he does have Abbotsford Public Works Director Craig Stuttgen help out with that.

Colby council member Randy Hesgard told commissioners that the books are all maintained by Colby and Abbotsford is not billed for that work. An audited cost for the labor that goes into the bookwork was not given but Schmidt said the estimated amount it costs the city of Colby is around $6,000 per year.

Abbotsford council member Roger Weideman said the Abbotsford City Council’s discussion ended with a consensus to keep the status quo.

“We had a pretty good discussion in our closed session,” Roger Weideman said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re going to look at [the split] five years or ten years from now or this year like we are right now, you’re always going to have ups and downs on both sides. I think our consensus was it’s worked pretty well and we’ve got a good group and a good police department. Why change it?”

“But do you think it’s fair?” Bauer asked.

“I don’t know how you guys would feel if we had 62% of the property value, if you think 55-45 [percent split] would be fair,” Schmidt said. “I doubt you would.”

“I’m so neutral because I like Colby and Abbotsford, equally,” Bauer prefaced. He went on to say he looks at the two cities as being one city and said when he introduces himself to others, he says he’s from the Colby-Abby area. For that reason he said his opinion is from a true outsider’s perspective.

Bauer went on to explain the problem with basing a split off of equalized value saying the two cities’ TIF districts are part of that equalized value count but the tax revenue from those districts are locked up in development of utilities and roads and cannot be used for fire or police protection.

With Abbotsford having a substantial amount of equalized value in the city’s TIF districts, he said it skews the amount of tax revenue that can actually be counted to help pay for police and fire protection using equalized value.

“It’s puts some hardship on Abbotsford,” Bauer said.

He went on to say he understands why Colby wants to change the funding split because the department is definitely busier in Abbotsford than it is in Colby. However he said if he was an Abbotsford council member, he’d be taking their position of sticking their feet in the ground and declining to pay more because the split is what was agreed upon at the start of the commission.

Bauer offered his final thoughts on the matter and told the commission what would be most fair in his eyes.

“I think what is fair is to work towards 60-40 and hopefully Colby has growth like Abbotsford has had growth. Take a look at it in 10 years. Colby and Abbotsford are getting a great police department and I think that would be fair. [Abbotsford] is still getting a little better deal and you guys have some awesome officers and you don’t want to lose them because you’re squabbling over five percent.”

Commissioner Sarah Diedrich said the Abbotsford representatives on the commission were struggling because their council already said no to raising the city’s funding portion. Colby representatives asked the Abbotsford representatives to bring the proposal back to the city council with information regarding the bookwork and other items presented at the police commission meeting.

The two sides agreed that the police departments could not be split into two municipalities as resources would be wasted on an extra police department building and both forces would back the other up in the event of a bigger call.

Weideman and stand-in Kevin Flink said the matter should be brought back to the Abbotsford city council on September 20 and they said they would like Bauer to show up to the meeting to share his thoughts.

Bauer gave the council his thoughts on Abbotsford’s growth and how that has affected the funding split in recent years.

“There is way more growth and there’s no denying it in Abbotsford. That’s a good thing for Abbotsford. I think you should be proud of your growth because you’ve done a great job with your TIF district. There’s more growth and there’s more people, obviously. Which makes for the police department being busier.” He went on to say that he didn’t agree with basing funding splits off of population because there’s no guarantee that either city’s censuses were accurate. Bauer told the council a split based on equalized value or number of calls might be considered the most fair number by some but he said Colby would most likely be willing to accept a transition to a 60-40 split with Abbotsford footing 57.5% of the bill in 2024 and bumping that percentage to 60% in the following years.

Abbotsford Mayor Jim Weix relayed a comment he had heard from a person opposed to changing the split.

“Colby is getting the same police protection as Abbotsford. It’s identical to both cities.”

He also said the reason the funding was split 55% - 45% was because the city of Abbotsford had Hwy. 29 running right through the heart of the city. He insinuated if not for the highway, the split would have been 50-50.

“We didn’t ask for a change when [Hwy.] 29 got bumped south closer to Colby,” Weix said. “So what gives them the right to ask us to change because we’re growing in population?”

Bauer asked Weix to throw Hwy. 29 out of the equation and focus on the numbers at hand. He said Abbotsford receives 63% of the police calls which makes paying 60% a good deal for the city of Abbotsford.

“I think of all the options, the 60-40 split is the best option and I think it’s the most straightforward option, too,” Bauer said.

He suggested the council raise their portion of the police funding by 2.5% in 2024 and 2.5% in 2025 and then reexamine the split in 10-15 years.

Weideman took over the conversation and said he thought the 55-45 split was enough of a disparity between the two municipalities.

“I don’t think we need much of a change because it has worked for 50 years,” Weideman said.

He also brought up the fact that Colby was taking care of the books and said if Colby wanted, Abbotsford could take over the bookwork portion of the department to save Colby the $6,000 payment.

Bauer said that’s not what Colby wants. He said they were going to use that as a bargaining chip because Abbotsford was telling Colby they provided the building and maintenance to the building which isn’t charged to Colby.

Diedrich voiced her concern that Colby was threatening that if Abbotsford didn’t contribute more to the financial burden of the department, that Colby wouldn’t have enough money to pay their end and an officer would have to get cut.

“Well I just hope that’s never a threat that’s just thrown out there,” Alderman Kayla Nixdorf said.

“Have they actually shown financials where they’re that strapped where they can’t afford it?” City Administrator Josh Soyk questioned. Bauer said the city of Colby has cut from other departments in the past which has caused Colby to have projects put off.

“So that means we should help them out then?” Alderman Selenia Espino asked.

“No. It’s not you helping them out. It’s you being fair,” Bauer answered.

Council president Mason Rachu stepped in and suggested the city raise their portion 2.5% but the split is not revisited for five more years.

“In my opinion, we should go the minimum 2.5% and push it off as long as we can just to see what the data says,” Rachu said.

Espino said she supported what Rachu wanted to propose but said, “Deep down, it feels like we are saving them because they can’t afford it.”

“It’s your decision but if you can look at yourself in the mirror and not feel bad about yourself screwing people over, then go 55-45 and keep it the way it is,” Bauer said. “But if you want to live with yourself and do the right thing, because it is the right thing to do honestly from an outsider who sees everything internally.”

Rachu made the motion to raise the Abbotsford portion to 57.5% for five years and then revisit the split. Flink said he was concerned the city of Colby wouldn’t go for that proposal.

Soyk and others said that if Colby didn’t approve that split, then that would be Colby’s problem and not Abbotsford’s.

“I think some of us are thinking of this as Abbotsford versus Colby but I don’t want us to think of it that way,” Rachu said.

The council voted unanimously to adopt the 57.5% for five years proposal which will go back to the commission and the city of Colby for approval of that city’s 42.5%. The final tally has Abbotsford paying $22,661 in addition to the $498,557 they were going to pay with the 55-45 split option for a total of $521,218 for police coverage in 2024. The city of Colby would save $22,662 in 2024 if approved by the commission and Colby city council.

Jason Bauer

Todd Schmidt

Jim Weix