By Eric Stock
CLINTON – The man in charge of keeping Clinton streets safe said his department will do all it can to avoid reducing the police force even as the area is about to lose its largest employer.
Clinton Police Chief Ben Lowers said it remain to be seen what the full impact of the Clinton nuclear plant’s planned closing will be.
“Obviously, there may be some reductions as we are able to turn over our vehicle fleet, things like that,” Lowers said. “We may just have to try to get an extra year or two out of our squad cars.”
READ ALSO: Local officials brace for loss of tax base amid Clinton plant closing
Exelon announced this week it is closing its power plants in Clinton and the Quad Cities because the plants have lost so much money and haven’t gotten any help from the state.
Lowers said the city of Clinton would be hurt more indirectly by the plant closing because the property tax revenue the plant pays goes primarily to DeWitt County and the Clinton public school system. He said the biggest worry for the city will be the hundreds of jobs lost and the migration that could follow.
“We’re not anticipating right now any reduction of manpower or staff or patrols but we do have a couple specialized units we might have to reevaluate if we do eventually have to downsize,” Lowers said.
He added the department might need to assess whether it can afford to keep its school resource officer which it shares with the Clinton school district. The public school system and DeWitt County are set to lose millions of dollars in property tax revenue with the plant closing in June of next year.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
Blake Haas contributed to this report.
