WHAT IS Bellaire Village Council waiting for?

The Bellaire Police Department is hoping a levy be placed before All-American Town voters to pump much-needed money into the force’s operations.

A 5-mill police levy has been defeated twice in Bellaire. The first time the vote was rather close. The second was not, as the police issue was on the same ballot as the 12.9 mill school levy, unlike the initial vote.

Now as the general election is less than a month away, there are no signs of a police levy in sight. It is too late to get it on the Nov. 2 ballot, but a special election can be scheduled to determine the fate of the levy.

While many wait for such an occurrence, the police department’s hands are handcuffed as they have no control over the situation. Village council must give the green light for a special election.

The Bellaire Police Department has been battling funding issues for quite some time. One of the fallouts has been the elimination of dispatching in the village.

The force has made a host of high-profile arrests this year despite its manpower shortcomings. The latest came this past week.

The police department was the victim of some $150,000 in cuts this spring. In the meantime, five new employees have been added to the village in other departments.

A poor economy may lead to even more cuts to the police budget in the future.

The levy is one that will not result in any pay raises to police employees. Rather, the money realized from the levy will be used to maintain operations as close to normal as possible.

We realize that special elections carry an extra cost. But we believe it is a small price to pay to let village voters decide whether they want to help bolster its police department.

Village council should make that happen.