Airway Heights requests tax increase to hire more police and boost public safety efforts

Airway Heights voters will decide next month if they want to increase property taxes to boost policing in step with the city’s rapid population growth.

The Airway Heights City Council in April decided to ask voters for the tax in the Aug. 6 primary election.

Calls for help in Airway heights have increased by 133% in the past five years, while the number of patrol officers has remained 14.

With each officer responding to approximately 1,500 calls per year, the police department must prioritize 911 calls, giving low priority to nonviolent crimes such as vandalism, traffic violations and theft, Airway Heights officials say.

“It’s tying our hands; we are so reactive in nature,” Police Chief Brad Richmond said. “We’re unable to be proactive, and we would like to have a more proactive presence in our community to go after some of these traffickers and criminal behaviors.”

The tax would allow the city to add four new police officers to the department, said Albert Tripp, Airway Heights city manager.

“We respond to calls and calls and calls,” Richmond said, but if voters back the proposal, “we would have more freedom to help the community with this public safety levy passing.”

The tax would cover the necessary resources to maintain public safety standards in addition to the police department’s current budget of $4.9 million.

“So the feedback we’ve heard is a desire from the community to keep public safety services in step with population growth, which is what this proposal was designed to do,” Tripp said.

Richmond and Tripp highlighted community feedback the city solicited last year.

“What we heard loud and clear from the community is that they wanted to see city services, public safety in particular, keep pace with population growth,” Tripp said.

Tripp said the tax boost also would pay for 18-20 new patrol cars.

“Currently, we don’t have a renewable way of paying for patrol cars, so the officers end up driving the cars far beyond their useful life, and that leads to just more monthly and annual payments,” Tripp said.

Patrol cars aging out of service and other outdated technology and equipment restrict officers’ ability to serve the community, Tripp said.

Taxes would increase by $1 per $1,000 in property value. That means the cost for the owner of a property assessed at $400,000 in Airway Heights would be $400 a year. This property tax rate is lower than the majority of the neighboring areas.

The proposal is the first time the city has asked for a tax increase specifically for its police department, Richmond said. The city grew in population by 5% from 2020 through 2022. It grew an additional 7% in 2023.

Calls to Airway Heights police for traffic-related incidents rose 37.6% between 2018-2021, and property crimes increased by 15.5%, with a sharp increase of suspicious vehicles, thefts, trespassing and vehicle thefts in that same period, Tripp said.

Tripp said the city expects these crimes to continue rising as more people move into the city.

Richmond believes the levy will help curb the fentanyl crisis. Officers and clinicians on the department’s staff help people who face drug addiction, and the tax boost would help expand those efforts, he said.

“We want to help protect our families from these lethal drug traffickers, but also provide services for those people struggling with drug abuse,” Richmond said.

Richmond said he’s hopeful the community has noticed efforts the department has made to build trust by working with the children, youth and families in their communities.

“We want to do everything we can to help these families being impacted,” Richmond said. “That’s what they deserve.”