The latest report presented by Bethlehem’s Budget Advisory Committee identified about $550,000 worth of potential savings in the town’s Police Department, but police brass say the force is already limited.
“Public safety is expensive,” said Police Chief Louis Corsi at a Town Board meeting held on Wednesday, July 11, at which the report was discussed. “We have cut everything to the bone. I’m working understaffed and if we continue in that course, it’s not going to rest with me, it’s going to rest with the board.”
Recommendations in the report included freezing police hiring for a year, reducing the amount of overtime and response to non-emergency calls by officers and requiring a 4 percent reduction in contractual services. Another suggestion was to “re-think” the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program taught in schools that is mostly paid for by the town.
At $18.2 million, the Police Department represents about 43 percent of the town’s General Fund budget for 2012.
According to the committee’s report, money could be saved by allowing civilians or other agencies to handle the nearly 7,500 calls deemed “non-emergencies” that come in each year. An estimated $50,000 to $150,000 could be saved by allowing someone outside of the force to respond to calls about issues such as animal control, home and car lockouts and checking on residents.
“It could be potential savings in costs, but more importantly it could be potential savings in efficiencies,” said Chris Kidera, co-chair of the committee. She said agencies like AAA could take over many of the non-emergency services currently provided by police.
To reduce overtime costs, the report suggested a one-week vacation buyback that could save up to $25,000. The elimination of the classification of roll call at the start of shifts would save $75,000 according to the report, but that is a contractual obligation with the police union.
In the report, the committee compared Bethlehem police statistics to those of other towns like Guilderland, Rotterdam, Vestal in Broome County and Manlius in Onondaga County, deemed comparable by figures like population, mileage, the amount of officers and service calls and the number of retail establishments. Of the six departments in the comparison, Bethlehem paid the most in overtime last year despite there being similar staffing between most of the municipalities.
The committee found restructuring the DARE program and reducing the time spent in schools by resource officers could save another $125,000. Kidera said those funds should come from the school district to help pay for the drug prevention program because the police department claims it is highly affective.
“But we know it’s like robbing Peter to pay Paul,” she said.
The district pays $45,000 toward the $337,800 needed to fund the program and the resource officers.
Several residents and members of the police force spoke out against making any cuts to the Police Department.
James Kerr, a Bethlehem police officer speaking on behalf of the Police Officer’s Union and the Police Supervisor’s Association, called many of the findings “fundamentally incorrect” and called into question the qualifications of the committee members charged with creating the report.
“From the report it would appear they don’t have even a basic knowledge of police procedures or things like contractual obligations,” he said, mentioning a 2007 report by the state Division for Criminal Justice Services that determined the department was understaffed.
Kidera said the committee merely looked at what could be changed fiscally because the town’s current economic situation. The expiration of a payment in lieu of taxes agreement with Selkirk Cogen and rising costs has the town looking at an estimated budget gap of up to $3.5 million for the coming year.
“We did not argue that the police aren’t vital to this community … because you do what you do and do it well, but sometimes it’s hard to see the big picture from the town’s perspective or resident’s perspective,” Kidera said.
Corsi said people are only thinking of the bottom line, instead of the actual services performed.
Actual budget decisions will not be made by the town until the fall and officials are still seeking additional cost saving suggestions.
