Rexburg revisits police bond with $3.9 million cost cut to ease tax burden

REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI) - Rexburg is once again talking about a new police station. 

Rexburg police have outgrown their building, and the city is making adjustments to reduce the cost for a new one by about $3.9 million including interest.

The current facility has only one interview room, insufficient evidence storage and limited space for training and education.

But the proposed new station would be 27,000 square feet, more than double the department's current 11,000-square foot footprint.

"We've felt a lot of support as we've continued through the planning process of building a new police station," said Rexburg Police Chief Joshua Rhodes. "We understand it is an increased cost to the members of the community, and it's our goal to continue to provide the best services possible and keep Rexburg the safest community."

In the last local election, the police bond got the majority vote, but not the super-majority required for a bond in Idaho.

Last month, people living in Rexburg were asked to take a survey to find out why the bond failed.

The top three reasons were that some people thought the tax impact was too high, the city should seek to reduce existing debt, and the city should take a phased approach to the project.

Matthew Nielson, Rexburg's Chief Finance Officer, tells Local News 8 that the city has no general obligation debt, but there is debt from school bonds and library bonds.

"With the new ordinance that would put this on the ballot, you know, the things that we're really trying to address is we're trying to reduce the initial cost, which reduces the impact on property tax. And then we're trying to defer when it would take effect so that all of these other bonds that are impacting your property tax could have expired or removed, right? And so we're trying to reduce the tax impact on the resident," said Nielson.

In its February 4th meeting, the Rexburg City Council voted unanimously to put the police bond on the May 19th ballot.

"We will continue to do the best we can to be fiscally responsible as we go through the design process and move this project forward," Rhodes said.