FORT DODGE, Iowa — Fort Dodge voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposed franchise fee that would have allowed the city to hire eight more police officers, according to unofficial election results.
Approximately 62% of voters rejected the 5% franchise fee in Tuesday's special election. The total tallies were 1,479 votes against and 923 votes for.
If the franchise fee was approved, Fort Dodge residents would have seen a $3 a month increase in both their gas and electric bills. That extra money would have been allocated to the Fort Dodge Police Department as part of the city's "Case for 8" initiative.
Under the plan, the department planned to hire one new officer for each of its four patrol shifts, as well as one new detective and three officers for the department's "Community Action" team.
Currently, the Fort Dodge Police Department has 40 police officers and responds to 31,000 calls a year. Fort Dodge Police Chief Dennis Quinn told Local 5 in early September that having more officers would ultimately make the community safer.
"I want allow our officers to, instead of just responding to calls as they just come in, I want them to be more proactive," he said. "I want to put more pressure on the people out here committing some of these criminal acts and make them not want to do that here."
Fort Dodge special election results
- City Public Measure A: Electric franchise fee
- Yes: 923 (38.43%)
- No: 1,479 (61.57%)
- City Public Measure B: Natural gas franchise fee
- Yes: 902 (38.14%)
- No: 1,463 (61.86%)
Total ballots: 2,417