Nearly two weeks after voters rejected Proposition Public Safety; the Joplin city council will hold its first meeting tonight. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.

The measure, which failed to gain voter approval by just over 1,000 votes, would have increased property taxes in Joplin by 17% while raising the starting salaries for the city’s police officers and fire officials by about $10,000.

At the council meeting, city staff will provide a presentation that will include issues that Joplin residents brought up during the campaign to pass Proposition Public Safety, including mistrust of the city government and how it allocates existing resources.

In addition to the poor economic conditions and bad timing of the measure, that would have raised property taxes by nearly 20%.

Although, according to the Missouri Economic and Research Center’s jobs report from June this year, the state’s unemployment rate is only 2.8%. Inflation has also improved in recent weeks, thanks to declining fuel prices. The formal portion of the Joplin city council meeting gets underway tonight at 6.