On Monday, January 10, the Pleasant Prairie Village Board approved a resolution to authorize a referendum to allow the Village to exceed the state-imposed levy limit for hiring additional Public Safety personnel beginning with the 2022 levy and on an ongoing basis. This will increase local property taxes in order to maintain existing police, fire and emergency medical services and hire four additional police officers and 12 fire emergency medical staff.
After developing an assessment of public safety funding options in 2021, the Village conducted a community-wide survey for resident input on how to proceed with maintaining high-quality fire and police services. The Village Board and administration received a presentation of the survey results on December 20. The highlights revealed that a majority of the 2,145 respondents support a referendum to increase local property taxes. Complete survey results are available
here. Citizens are also encouraged to review the assessment, which can be found
here.
The continued growth in population and development in Pleasant Prairie has caused an increase in the demand for public safety services. Pleasant Prairie Fire and Rescue (PPFR) calls are up 62% since 2010 and Pleasant Prairie Police Department (PPPD) calls are up 7.5% from 2012 to 2019 with an increase in call complexity. As a result, it is becoming difficult to sustain the level of service the Pleasant Prairie community has come to expect. The Village must act to preserve this level of police, fire and emergency medical services. The Village has also identified a need for additional police officers and fire/emergency medical staff to fulfill both department’s response and preventative responsibilities.
By passing the resolution, the referendum question will be placed on the Spring Election Ballot to fund additional public safety personnel through an increase in the tax levy. The Village will host two virtual Public Information Meetings on February 23 and March 16 at 6:00 p.m. to educate participants and answer questions on the needs for public safety. The Spring Election takes place on April 5, 2022.
About Pleasant Prairie
The Village of Pleasant Prairie is a Village in Kenosha County with about 21,250 residents and 494 businesses. Pleasant Prairie is a family-friendly community featuring quality parks, schools, and trails. It is ranked among the fastest growing communities in Wisconsin.