update: 031920151738
CORRECTION
In my article
titled “Where Can We Make Cuts? I made a mistake. According to the Town Manager, 01-115 Crime
Insurance pertaining to all town employees and therefore should remain under
01-115 Insurance. This would reduce the
total operating cost of the Police Department by $991.00. The total Cost of operating the Police
Department should be $1,828,412.00.
The Town Manager presented
the initial proposed
municipal budget. Below is the true cost
for the Police Department. There is no
wonder our taxes are so high for this bedroom community. For numerous years, the Concerned Citizens
have been trying to tell the people what the actual cost of operating the
Police Department really was but a lot of expenditures were hidden elsewhere in
the budget. Our new Town Manager has
made it easier to locate all the expenditures in the budget. I only wish that she would put all the
expenditures under the departments thus enabling the taxpayers to see the TOTAL
OPERATING COST OF EACH DEPARTMENT. This would make it a lot easier to see
where to make cuts.
The following is what the
taxpayers are forced to pay for a police force.
1,332,877.00 – Police
82,490.00 –
Animal Control
339,784.00
– Dispatch/Communication Center
1,755,151.00 TOTAL
However, this is not the
actual cost because the following expenditures are elsewhere in the budget:
9,559.00 –
Police Liability is under 01-115 Insurance
991.00 – Crime Insurance is under
01-115 Insurance
17,604.00 –
PD Full Service Support is under 01-135 Technology, Service
&
Support Agreement
14,285.00 – Tritech PD is
under 01-135 Technology, Service & Support
Agreement
6,078.00
– 13 PDPatrol is under 09-900 Debt Service for leased vehicle
5,952.00
– K9 Unit is under 09-900 Debt Service for leased vehicle
9,380.00 – 14 PDPatrol is under 09-900 Debt
Service for leased vehicle
10,403.00 – 15
PDPatrol is under 09-900 Debt Service for leased vehicle
74,252.00 TOTAL
The total operating cost of
the Police Department to the taxpayers is the sum of these two figures:
1,755,151.00
74,252.00
1,829,403.00
TOTAL OPERATING COST OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT
How close is this
to two million?
2,000,000.00
1,829,403.00
170,597.00
It is ridiculous for taxpayers to be paying almost 2
million ($2,000,000.00) for the Police Department in our community. The taxpayers
do not have this kind of money especially when the County can provide the same
service at a cost considerably less than we are paying now. My guess is that we could save close to a
million (1,000,000.00) tax dollar thus reducing our taxes.
Why are we allowing this to go on? Please call
your councilors and the Town Manager and let’s reduce the operating cost of the
Police Department. I have recommended several times each
year that the town ask the County for a quote to take over the operations of
the Police Department.
Larry Fillmore