State senators narrowly passed a bill Tuesday to boost public safety funding at the local level.
Cities could put creation of public safety protection districts to a vote of the people. Sen. Mike Mazzei said his bill would let citizens within those districts supplement public safety funding with property taxes.
"Local voters, according to this proposal, could approve anywhere from one to five mills of support for a public safety protection district," Mazzei said.
Local governments would control the districts, which must include the entire city they’re for. Voters could dissolve districts if their city calls an election to do so.
Mazzei said cities’ sales tax collections are taking too big a hit from Internet sales.
"A new public safety protection district, if approved by the voters, would provide a revenue stream to support hiring more police officers and more firefighters," Mazzei said.
Voter-approved funding could even go toward jail costs.
