John Spatz wants to expand the selection of sellable and usable fireworks in Lincoln by allowing all fireworks permitted in the state. That's a much bigger list of products than Lincoln's pared-down list that excludes things like fireworks with a report. His reasoning is that since so many people break the law as it's currently written, we may as well make a few extra bucks by keeping those individuals' money in Lincoln.
I can't really disagree with Spatz on this one. A substantial minority of Lincolnites violate current law, and a substantial majority don't care enough to do much about it. Not that there's much they can do. LPD doesn't have the resources to make even the tiniest of dents in the problem. You know what they say, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
I do disagree with Spatz's suggestion that we extend to July 1st and 2nd the timeframe for using fireworks in Lincoln. I'm perfectly content with the current restriction to July 3 and 4. My family, my dog, and my sanity can only handle so much noise and toxic fumes. I realize some people already cheat and start early, but they're relatively few and far between. Let's keep it that way.
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I agree they should expand the list. I don’t have a massive problem either way with opening the days to July 1.
I do think that sales should be allowed in Lincoln earlier so that more of the sales tax revenues can stay in hometown-proud Lincoln, and not to Roca, Waverly, etc.
I’m in favor of increasing sales tax revenue in Lincoln, but I think we need to look at the costs associated with careless firecracker use. How much extra do we have to budget for police, fire and emts to respond to firecracker calls? We should be able to document the expense for added safety personnel necessary to respond when people don’t responsibly use firecrackers. What about the people who show-up in ER with no health insurance? Will the sales tax revenue exceed the costs to the city?
Additional police costs will likely be negligible. If more fireworks are legal on more days, there will be fewer police responses, not more. I suppose there could be more “misuse of fireworks” calls, but considering how badly Lincolnites abuse fireworks already I can hardly imagine such a scenario.
Additional fire costs will likely be negligible. The new fireworks aren’t necessarily more prone to start fires, they just make more noise.
Health care costs (including ambulance service) could plausibly go up if many new people buy types of fireworks they wouldn’t have previously purchased. I’ll bet you could find some data from other communities around the country if you were to go looking for it.
I was going to respond along the same lines. To my knowledge, they don’t bring in a lot of extra help on those days, save for maybe traffic around the city fireworks show.
If LFR has people on hand, there’s no huge additional tax dollars whether they are hanging out at the station or on a call (yes, I know there’s gas, but no additional labor, etc.).
We should definitely allow the sale of these types of fireworks within city limits. In terms of additional revenue for sales taxes, this is a no-brainer.
I also like the idea of allowing their use from July 1 to 4.
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