Wal-Mart Strains Police Services in Small Towns

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With just a few weeks before Christmas, the Wal-mart parking lot in Epping is filled with busy shoppers.
It’s tradition for many Wal-marts to stay open 24 hours on Christmas day. Wal-mart shopper Paula Center was disappointed to learn that won’t happen at the Epping store.
“4:49 Oh I’d love it if they were open, I’m a late night shopper and I love to just go out and get it all done at once.”

But Epping’s planning commission denied the round the clock shopping request from the world’s largest retailer.
Epping Police Chief Gregory Dodge says the volume of emergency calls is straining the department’s six patrolmen.
“1130 1:04 in 2004 alone we were there 260 times, and thus far this year to date we’ve been there 251 times for a variety of calls.”

This year, police have had to deal with 18 calls for theft or shoplifting, 28 calls for car accidents and motor vehicle violations and less frequent reports of check fraud, domestic disturbances and criminal mischief.
Dodge says one out of every 25 calls they receive for service comes from the Walmart.
He says that’s a big disadvantage for the rest of the town.
1136 1:12 I think we do a good job trying to answer to the needs of WalMart or anyone else that builds here but you have to balance that with the needs of the citizens of this town who rely on the police department for a whole host of issues and that can’t be ignored.

Town officials say they expected an increase in calls for police and ambulance service even before the Wal-mart was built – but they didn’t expect so many so fast.
Epping Selectman Chair Kim Sullivan says this year they’ve asked big box retailers Wal-mart and Lowe’s to help share the cost of police services.
5:10 I think the solution is to provide the town some additional subsidy over and above their assessed real estate taxes to defray some of those expenses and what we’re looking at is an amount between 70 and 80 thousand dollars which would be split between Wal-mart and Lowe’s

But so far Wal-mart hasn’t been open to the idea.
Epping generates 262-thousand dollars in property tax revenues every year from the Wal-Mart.
Wal-mart Spokesperson Sharon Weber says that should be enough to provide extra services.
She says in addition, Wal-Mart has been generous to the town in other ways.
Just in Epping we’ve made bonus grant donations to both the police department and the fire department as well as many other community organizations since we opened up our store in January of 04

But town officials say those bonus grants aren’t enough to allow them to hire another officer.
And money raised from property taxes goes directly to the general fund – it’s not earmarked for police.
Again, Selectman chair Kim Sullivan.
7:17 the benefit of having build up of business as we have was to reduce the town’s tax load, 100-percent, not to increase it at all, all monies coming from those businesses would be used to reduce taxes, otherwise why would any town want to turn themselves into a real busy spot.

Epping isn’t alone in dealing with the growing pains that come from big box retailers like Wal-Mart.
Littleton is also weighing the economic benefits of their Wal-mart against an increased call for services.
Littleton town manager Jason Hoch says having a Wal-mart in town has meant fewer officers on Main Street.
:54 about a year ago we were looking at what the impact of managing shoplifting cases at Wal-mart had been and we calculated that on an average week we were spending about 17 officer hours processing those cases.

Those kinds of figures worry Littleton officials to the point that there’s even been talk of creating a separate tax district in the shopping area occupied by Wal-Mart.
But Hock says they first plan to study exactly what sort of impact Wal-Mart is having on town services.
5:38 if it’s a dollar in of taxes and a dollar out of services, communities break even, but we start getting concerned if it’s a dollar in of taxes and a dollar 50 out of services.

Hoch has a hunch that Wal-Martis a net gain to the town.
He says the additional tax revenues from the Wal-mart have allowed Littleton to tackle major capital projects like renovating a high school and closing a town landfill.
But the big box phenomenon isn’t limited to Wal-Mart.
In both Littleton and Epping big retailers quickly followed.
Epping town officials say they love the tax revenue and don’t want to turn back the clock.
But they’re angling for ways to get more money to pay for the unexpected demand for services.
Until they can figure that out, Wal-Mart shoppers in Epping will have to find something else to do on Christmas night.
For NHPR news, I’m Amy Quinton.