Budgeting on-call time

Police Chief Bill Bryant is facing his first departmental budget draft in a time of severe cuts, but with assistance from Clerk/Treasurer Cheryl Schneider, he was better prepared when he sat with the council at a workshop Monday afternoon to discuss possible alternatives to the current on-call funding.

Among other municipal budget cuts this year, the governing body has already decreased the on-call hourly wage from $5 to $3, saving the town $9048, but they are seeking to increase that savings.

“That’s a lot of extra money,” Councilman Dale Petersen said of the still higher on call budget, “We’re concerned about how we can reduce the cost to the town.”

He shared a couple of options he and his fellows had discussed previously with the chief for consideration, one of which would be a stipend instead of hourly wage of perhaps $2500 twice a year, cutting the currently budgeted on call wage per officer by more than half.

Petersen also mentioned maybe not covering the town 24/7. “We’re just trying to get some ideas here,” he said.

Mayor Dick Claar made clear to the chief that the body is not trying to defund the police department, “But, we are interested in our costs.”

Bryant advised the council that when the team is fully functional with Eric Henshaw certified to work alone around the first week of September, the numbers will drop for on call. He noted, too, the difficulty of working a three-man crew necessitating about two days

a week of on-call time per officer compared to a full team consisting of five officers and about four hours a week of on-call time per officer.

After more discussion between the chief and council, the decision was made to allow the budget to remain for the time being with only the decrease of the hourly on-call wage with the understanding that they will revisit the situation after September if needed, recognizing

that the numbers will change when Henshaw is actually added to the schedule.