FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) – The St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, under scrutiny since a white police officer fatally shot a black 18-year-old, may not be able to comply with all terms of its settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice if local voters fail to approve two tax increases, the city’s mayor said Wednesday.
Voters will decide the fate next Tuesday of proposed increases in sales and property taxes for the municipality. Mayor James Knowles III said passage of both tax increases would wipe out about 80 percent of the city’s $2.9 million deficit, but failure to pass them could mean layoffs of police and firefighters.
“If we don’t pass both I would say it would be highly unlikely to fully comply with the consent decree,” Knowles said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Officer Darren Wilson fatally shot Michael Brown on Aug. 9, 2014, during a street confrontation, sparking widespread protests. A grand jury and the U.S. Justice Department cleared Wilson of wrongdoing, but a Justice Department investigation cited alarming patterns of racial bias in policing and a municipal court system that generated revenue largely on the backs of poor and minority residents.
Weeks after initially rejecting the agreement, the Ferguson City Council approved it on March 15, ending a federal lawsuit alleging racial bias in the criminal justice system. The agreement calls for the hiring of a monitor; diversity training for police; purchase of software and hiring of staff to analyze records on arrests, use of force and other police matters; and outfitting all officers and jail workers with body cameras.