Poll: Should Cheyenne Spend An Extra $100k on Traffic Enforcement

The Cheyenne City Council is in the process of compiling a budget for Fiscal year 2026, which gets underway on July 1.

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A recent amendment to the budget would allocate an extra $100k from reserves to pay for police overtime to crack down on speeding motorists and loud vehicles.

Proposal Seems To Have Strong Support On Council

At a Committee of the Whole Meeting on May 21, Councilman Ken Esquibel moved the amendment, which was then approved unanimously. That budget was later passed on second reading by the full council.

Mayor Patrick Collins seems to support the idea, based on recent comments in his ''Mayor's Minute" column: ''The increased funding will be earmarked to help meet City Council’s goal of slowing down speeding cars and combating vehicles that make excessive noise. During the month of May, the police have made 1,443 traffic stops. This additional funding will allow more targeted enforcement, hopefully making our community safer''

Not Everyone Loves The Idea

While a random sampling of comment on social media on Monday seemed mostly favorable, that opinion was by no means unanimous. Former city councilwoman Judy Case wrote "So the current mayor cuts overtime for sanitation workers but the current city council is willing to take $100T from RESERVES to pay for speeding cars and loud noises they make.

I’m all for slowing cars down, cars running red lights (this activity has been out of control for way too long.) Help me understand what the police are doing now that causes them not to do this basic enforcement and keep our community safe."

Other commenters opposed to the idea expressed the opinion that it's just a way to raise money for the city and will generate a "how many tickets can I write'' mindset among local police officers

Some folks also favored spending that money elsewhere, such as improving the quality of Cheyenne streets. Maybe even to give the city more ability to deal with the eternal pothole problem

The council will hold a public hearing on the budget as well as third reading on Monday, June 9.

So what do you think? Is the extra money to fight speeding and noise violations a good idea? Take our poll and give us your opinion!