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Proposal to dissolve traffic-calming program and reallocate $150,000 to police met with fiscal concerns
Summary
Alderman Fuqua proposed dissolving the traffic-calming program and using the $150,000 in budgeted funds to add officers to the Spring Hill Police Department for traffic enforcement. Committee members raised concerns about turning a one-time allocation into a recurring personnel cost and asked for more public input and financial detail.
Alderman Fuqua introduced a resolution (25-93) to dissolve the city's traffic-calming program, which currently has a budget line of $150,000, and a companion resolution (25-94) proposing that those funds be granted to the Spring Hill Police Department to hire two or three officers dedicated to traffic calming.
“I think the funding of $150,000 for the traffic calming program... should be dedicated to the Spring Hill Police Department to add those additional officers,” Alderman Fuqua said, arguing that boots on the ground could be more effective than engineered structures.
Committee members voiced fiscal and policy concerns. Alderman Linville said he wanted a clear comparison of recurring personnel costs versus one-time traffic-calming expenditures, noting that it is “not as easy to drop police officers if you're wanting to do that in future years as it is to drop a traffic calming program.” Another member said $150,000 would not fully fund even one new officer after salary, training and vehicle costs are considered. One member asked for wider public comment on repurposing the funds before a recommendation.
Several members said the item was presented out of respect for due process and that discussions with staff (Scroggins and Bright) and further public input would be appropriate before any change is made. The committee did not take a formal vote and did not make a recommendation to BOMA at this meeting.
Staff were asked to provide comparative cost information (one-time engineering projects versus recurring personnel expenses) and to solicit additional public comment before BFAC would consider supporting a transfer of the traffic-calming funds.
