Jeff Griffith Talks City Budget and Community Policing
Friday on KFYO Mornings with Dave King and Matt Martin Lubbock City Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Griffith joined Matt Martin and Matt Crow to talk about the previous nights city council meeting which included the cities budget, city debt and fees, zoning, community policing, libraries, and more.
Griffith spoke on the continued plans for community policing and the construction of police substations. "We're the largest city in Texas that doesn't have community policing," he explained, going on to say, "Our crime rate is up...public safety is job 1 for the city council, and so I'm fully in favor of improving and increasing our force and the substation plan." The council last night approved $99,000 to start designing and engineering the architecture for a new crime lab/property warehouse.
When asked what difference there has been between last years budget and the proposed budget for October 1st 2018 - September 30th of 2019, Griffith explained that the city has been cash funding projects, rather than financing them. Griffith was asked if taxes could go down if the city could get rid of debt, to which he replied that he believes it could, but that he doesn't think we will ever see the city eliminate debt. He does, however, believe that in 10 years, 72% of the cities debt will have been paid off.
Watch the full interview with City Councilman Jeff Griffith in the video above.