City of Billings Mayor Bill Cole speaks about the need for increased revenues to city coffers in order to fight the rising crime rate in Billings. (Courtesy photo)
Officials in the City of Billings launched a campaign on Tuesday to pass a safety mill levy this fall – one aimed at curbing the rapid increase in crime in Billings.
“There’s no way to sugarcoat this unfortunate truth,” said Mayor Bill Cole. “Billings has a serious public safety problem.” He spoke at a press conference organized by Citizens for a Safer Billings.
Billings City Council has placed a request for $7.1 million in additional tax revenue on the November 2 ballot to provide for more police, firemen and support staff for more law enforcement throughout the community.
Mayor Cole explained that FBI statistics show that Billings far exceeds the national average not only in violent crime but in non-violent crimes as well. Nationally, in 2019 there were 370 crimes per 100,000 people, but in Billings the crime rate is “higher still” at 610 violent crimes per 100,000, and even higher in non-violent crimes.
Hosting the press conference, and among its speakers was Matt McDonnell, owner of Raisin Contracting and property owner in an area that has had troubles with the growing crime rate. McDonnell and a number of neighboring business owners recently purchased a motel which was a site to which police were frequently called out with swat teams to deal with criminal activity. The new owners had the motel razed to eliminate the problem to their neighborhood. While that has solved some of the problems, said McDonnell, there is still more to do, and there is a great need for the city to acquire the resources and personnel to deal with it.
Also speaking about what they need was Chief St. John; Chief Valdez; Brian Brown, regional president for FIB; and Mary Underriner, Underriner Motors.
Increased crime is only part of the public safety problem facing Billings, said Mayor Cole. From 2010 to 2020, fire department calls jumped 70 percent, and the city has managed with only one judge for the last 50 years.
This newly proposed levy would fund the hiring of 28 new officers and staff members for the Billings Police Department; bring on 10 new firefighters and staff a new 24-hour mobile response team; pay for a new judge for the city’s municipal court; add three new criminal division prosecutors, two legal assistants and two paralegals for the city attorney’s office; and hire three new code enforcement o
If passed, the proposed mill levy increase will impose $100 additional property taxes on a $250,000 home.
