(Editor's note: This is just one part of a series of stories about local candidates in the upcoming June 2 primary, municipal and school board election. Find more coverage here.)
Simplified: This year, Sioux Falls saw a five-year low in violent crime per capita. Meanwhile, the city's public safety budget has increased 75% over the last decade as the city's added about four dozen officers in that same time period. Sioux Falls Simplified chatted with Southeast District City Council candidates about how they plan to approach funding the city's growing public safety needs.
Here's what we asked:
How would you approach balancing the public safety needs of the community with the budget realities facing the city – e.g. sales tax revenues coming up short?
Here's how candidates answered (in reverse alphabetical order):
Sara Pankonin
Pankonin noted that she's met with a few police officers, and she also said public safety is something the current administration has done a really good job at handling. As for funding, she said she doesn't think the police department should have to raise its own funds by giving tickets.
"The city should make sure that fund doesn't get cut short from what is needed by our police department," she said.
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Brady Kerkman
Kerkman said he's a big supporter of first responders and spent 10 years working for the Department of Corrections. When it comes to funding, he said he's got plenty of experience making "a dime spread to a dollar" in terms of efficiency. He also shared the hypothetical of a needed expense for tasers.
"If you pull your taser out and it doesn't work, what's the next thing you're going to pull? Most likely a gun," Kerkman said. "Well, I would rather spend $750,000 on giving them the tools they need than a wrongful death suit, so to me, something like that is a no-brainer."
Michael Crane
Crane said as the city continues to grow, it'll have to make decisions on how to provide police and fire protection.
"We just have to do those things ... make sure you're doing it in the most efficient way possible, but it will be a challenge as the budgets are not going to get easier," he said.
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