AURORA | Aurora’s current population amounts to about 335,700 people, according to a third-party population estimate, which means 12 more police officers are needed in the city.
Clarion Associates presented its population estimate numbers to the Public Safety Committee in mid-July, and committee members agreed that it should be adopted as the official 2012 city of Aurora population estimate.
The 12 new police officers will cost the city about $1.1 million, said Jason Batchelor, the city’s finance director.
According to Clarion Associates, the city’s population has grown by about 1,670 people from April 2011 to April 2012.
Since 2000, the population has increased by 48,685 people, or about 17.6 percent, according to U.S. Census numbers.
Aurora’s police staffing mandate requires the city to add more police officers as population grows. City officials last year changed the police staffing ratio from the original mandate of 2 officers for every 1,000 residents.
The new plan is expected to save the city about $40 million over the next decade. Under the plan, City Council would no longer tie police staffing to the total population. Instead, Aurora City Council set the 2011 staffing level of 658 officers as the mandatory floor. For any new growth before 2021, the city will add 1.6 officers for every 1,000 residents. In 2021, the city would add officers at a 1.9-per-1,000 rate.
The plan also changes the way the city projects its annual population. Aurora will now use a three-year average instead of an annual estimate, and new officers would only be added in odd-numbered years.
According to Clarion Associates’ estimates, the city will have to add 12 officers in 2013. The city will not add any new officers in 2014, Batchelor said.
By 2021, the city’s estimates call for 800 officers under 2-per-1,000 and 713 under the new plan – a difference of about 10 percent.
The plan also calls for $2,000 bonuses for officers, doled out in $500 increments twice a year in 2012 and 2013.