Centralia eliminates two police department positions to balance budget

CENTRALIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Centralia city leaders decided recently to eliminate two police department positions in an effort to balance the city's budget.

Centralia Mayor Chris Cox said Friday the Centralia Police Department's K9 unit was disbanded and a police department clerk position was also eliminated. Cox said workers staffed both positions.

Cox said the clerk's duties will be taken over by police dispatchers.

The mayor said it was a difficult decision to make.

"There are a lot of things we want to do besides eliminate city positions," Cox said. "These are not easy decisions taken lightly."

Cox added city leaders did not target the police department for the cuts.

"The council took great care in making this decision and made sure that the changes would not affect services to our citizens," Cox said.

The mayor said a position at city hall will also be eliminated in the coming months. Cox said the worker will be removed after the city's payroll system is upgraded in the next two to four months.

The police department makes up about 39% of the city's budget, Cox said.

The mayor said Centralia's budget was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the city was looking at a $110,000 drop in revenue from decreases in personal property and real estate taxes.

Cox said the city anticipates an at least 10% decrease for Centralia's public safety sales tax. The city expected it to raise at least $142,000 for the department, as of Friday the funding is expected to be around $128,000.

He said the tax revenue, in part, raises funds for the police department.

The mayor said city leaders made the decisions in anticipation of possibly deeper budget cuts.

"We are concerned about state and federal grant monies not being available for infrastructure projects for our city," Cox said."

ABC 17 reached out to police chief Robert Bias but he wasn't immediately available.