Mayor: New police contract will save village residents $159,551

To the editor: There has been some confusion and controversy over the recent billing for police services by the village and town. The complexity stems from a number of apparent issues. The first is that we are dealing with two different fiscal years. The village fiscal year runs from June until May and the town from January to December. They overlap by five months. Because of a state comptroller’s opinion, the costs are divided between the two municipalities. Why is there a division? The town is divided into four posts. Each post is manned by one patrol which constitutes general police service. The village post has two patrols, 24 hours, 7 days a week. A village resident pays for general service in their town tax and for the second patrol (which is considered enhanced service) in their village tax. The end result is a cost reduction for village residents for the same police service. Haven’t I paid already for police service in my village taxes? Yes, village residents have paid for service for the fiscal year starting in June 2005 ending 2006. Am I paying again in my town taxes? In the transition to the divided billing there is an overlap of costs in which village residents are paying five months of general police service. This creates a surplus for the village of approximately $300,000 which will be used for police costs in upcoming village taxes in June. How will this affect my village taxes? The Village Board has publicly stated that the surplus will be used to offset police costs in the 2006-07 budget. This will create a reduction. A village resident should see a decrease in taxes for police services of over $4.50 per $1,000 of taxable assessed value. What are the differences between the old contract method and the new? The old contract method of a percentage of the overall police costs would have been $1,913,376. With the new method the cost for village residents is $1,758,825, which creates a yearly cost savings of $159,551. This will begin to be realized in the village taxes in June of ‘06. I hope that this will answer some of the questions that surround this issue. If you have any questions simply call me at 986-2031. Michael J. Newhard Mayor, Village of Warwick