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Fee increase unfortunate but necessary By Gary Nelson By Mail Tribune Editorial Board Dec 25, 2022 12:00 AM A A No one likes higher taxes and fees. Some Medford residents may be less than pleased that the City Council has voted to more than double the public safety fee that helps pay for police officers, firefighters and emergency medical personnel. But there is good reason to do so. Medford has not added officers to its police department for 15 years. During that time, the city’s population has grown from just over 72,000 to more than 86,000. At the same time, the population of homeless individuals has increased dramatically, and like it or not, the police department is the agency called upon to respond to the impacts of people living on the streets or camping along the Bear Creek Greenway. Homelessness itself is not a crime, and those who lack permanent shelter are not necessarily criminals. But the presence of large numbers of people on downtown streets, some of whom suffer from mental illness and substance abuse, poses a public safety risk, not least to the homeless themselves. People camping along the Greenway also increase the risk of wildfire when warming and cooking fires get out of control. The increased city fees will expand the police department’s Livability Team, which patrols downtown and the Greenway and works to connect people with mental health care and drug treatment as well as transitional shelter. The additional revenue also will allow the fire department to hire new community resource officers dedicated to patrolling downtown and portions of the Greenway, with the capability to put out small fires before they spread. The Livability Team has received high marks from downtown businesses for its work to keep downtown streets safer. The program has served as a model for other communities seeking to deal with increasing homeless populations. Despite accusations sometimes leveled by those who do not trust government, elected officials — especially at the local, city council level — are not constantly looking for ways to separate taxpayers from their money. The fact that the police force has not expanded in 15 years is proof of that. In fact, local governments sometimes wait too long to make the investments necessary to protect public health and safety, because leaders know fee increases won’t be popular. That doesn’t make it any easier to absorb higher fees when they do come along, but the alternative is putting up with increasing vandalism, littering, car break-ins and other unpleasant realities.