If City Council members were to take a poll of city residents’ biggest concerns, we have a feeling decreasing the flow of illegal drugs coming into the city would be high on the list.

It’s one reason that Police Chief Timothy Jackson’s request for drug buy money is a strong request to be considered in future years as council members and Mayor Kim Ecklund try to right-size the city’s budget.

For years the Jamestown Police Department used money seized from drug investigations for drug buy money. The only problem with that is some years there’s a lot of money seized as part of drug investigations while other years the amount is lower. Having buy money available allows the department to pursue more drug investigations and, ideally to secure more forfeited cash from drug dealers as investigations are closed. It certainly made life easier for regional drug investigators this year to have a line in the city budget for drug buy money.

But facing a 7.79% tax increase this year, the drug buy money was taken out of the budget as any unnecessary spending was stripped out of the budget. It’s not likely the drug buy money is going to be added back into the 2025 budget since Jackson also raised concerns about seeing the department’s fuel budget set $36,000 less than the department’s request. Gas for police vehicles is a more pressing need than $14,400 for drug buy money.

As Ecklund and the council begin eyeing the 2026 budget, we hope they are able to figure out a way to include drug buy money. This has been a busy year for drug investigations, and we know that much of the gun violence and seizure of illegal weapons on our streets tends to involve the sale of illegal drugs. Viewed through that lens, it can be argued drug buy money is really an investment in reducing some of the more dangerous crime elements in our neighborhoods.

It’s also important to realize that the city must return to the days of pragmatic budgeting. American Rescue Plan Act funding is gone. Employee contracts are waiting to be negotiated, and those costs aren’t going down. So if we decide drug buy money is important, then something else will have to be cut in order to include drug buy money.

Budgeting was easy for the past few years thanks to the ability to use ARPA funding to plug holes. We hope city residents didn’t get too used to the city spending money like a 5-year-old on a toy shopping spree, because those days are gone even for something as important – and as relatively small – as drug buy money.