Politics & Government

Police Union Comes Out in Favor of Hercules Tax Increase

Voters in June will decide whether to increase the city's utility users tax from 6 percent to 8 percent, and add cable to the utilities covered.

Hercules' police officers union has thrown its support behind a ballot measure that would increase the taxes residents pay for utilities, and add cable to the utilities taxed.

"In order to stop further reductions within the Police Department the City must balance the budget and this will not be possible without an increase in revenue," Jay Tucker, chair of the Keep Our Police Services Political Action Committe, writes on SaveHerculesPD.org. "'Measure A' could do just that."

The website is operated by the political action committee, not the union–but the Hercules Police Officers Association union is listed on a supporters page on the site.

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It's no surprise the union is supporting the utility users tax hike–city officials have threatened that if it fails, the only way they'll be able to bridge a $1.2 million deficit is by dissolving the police department.

"The elephant in the room has been, how do you cut a million dollars out of a budget?" City Manager Steve Duran said in February. "And the answer we keep coming back to is, given the extensive cuts to staffing we've had to this date … the only way to save that kind of money would be to outsource police to the sheriff's department and make some other cuts to our own staffing."

Find out what's happening in Pinole-Herculeswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Hercules has already laid off a third of its police force, and voters have approved a temporary half-cent sales tax increase. 

This utility users tax increase, which would expire in five years, will be voted on in June.

The Save Hercules PD website lists all five city council members, several former council members, and Police Chief Bill Goswick, as supporters of the measure.

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Correction: A previous version of this article misidentified the operator of the Save Hercules PD website. The site is overseen by a political action committee. Patch regrets the error.

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