Billings Budget Hacks: More Cops, No Tax Increase

I see that the city council has found some money to help with safety around the Billings area. Good for them; they were able to get creative without going back to the taxpayer for more. We will see an additional six policemen added to the force, and I believe they are also adding that many firefighters as well. Plus, they are also putting more money into Parks and Rec. The thing to understand is that just with growth alone and the new evaluations on your property, they were able to make it work. Great, let's keep doing it that way instead of a tax homerun for governments.

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The safety issue, though, is significant. We are to the point where our city parks are not safe anymore. We had another attack yesterday in North Park where a man was attacked by a guy with a machete. This happened at 1:45 in the afternoon, broad daylight. Keep in mind there is a huge playground up there now for kids. You would have to be crazy now to send your kids to one of these parks to play. Pick one anywhere around town, and they are now a hub for the homeless. They set up their homes there, and now that the weather is good, they are not leaving. Maybe we can have some of the new community police on this detail since the full-timers don't have the time to address this. Combine all of that with the drug and alcohol addictions that many of them are battling, and it's a bad combination.

See you tomorrow at 5.