Voters approve added funds for EW Police Department
By:Jennifer Misthal, Journal Inquirer
06/21/2006
EAST WINDSOR - Now that voters overwhelmingly have approved allocating an extra $104,070 to the Police Department's budget, the department can finish out the fiscal year without any anxiety about how it will cover its remaining expenses.
A motion to transfer the money from the town's contingency fund, the private fund, and the alarm fund - which contains the money generated by the department's alarm ordinance - passed 83-28 at a town meeting Tuesday.
Both the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance unanimously had recommended the added appropriations at a June 12 meeting.
Of the $104,070, $78,000 is earmarked for officers' variable overtime, $2,272 is for the officers account, $7,000 for the clerical account, and $13,798 will go toward gas and oil.
The men and women of the department are proud that 83 people came out to support them, Chief Edward J. DeMarco Jr. said after the result was announced.
The high number of voters in attendance demonstrated police officials' success in following the Board of Finance's request to have supportive voters present at Tuesday's town meeting.
Despite the 10 new chairs in Town Hall, voters still lined the perimeter of the room, and many stood in the Town Hall lobby. It took nearly 30 minutes for the crowd to cast its paper ballots, which is how long the public comment lasted.
At the first town meeting on the subject, on June 6, voters narrowly - by a vote of 13-11 - defeated the Police Department's request, which was $5,000 higher than the one approved Tuesday. That $5,000 was cut from gas and oil.
In order to avoid a similar situation next year, DeMarco said, police officials will meet with the Finance Board regularly. Dale Nelson, a Finance Board member, also will serve as a liaison between the Police Commission and the board, he said.
The Board of Finance and police officials came under scrutiny during the public comment portion of the meeting.
"They shouldn't have waited until the end of the year" to request more money, William Loos of 44 Melrose Road said of the Police Commission.
Others viewed the shortfall as an indication that its 26-officer department is too small for a town of more than 10,000 people.
"I think if we had a lot more men on the force, we wouldn't need this," Samuel McGill of 27 Wells Road said.
Responding to critical comments, Marie DeSousa, a member of the Finance Board, said she would not micromanage the department, nor should anyone else at the meeting try to do so.
"Let last year be last year," she said. "Let's move this budget forward ... so next year we're not back here."
Although DeMarco sent a memo to the Board of Selectmen in May asking for the extra money, in his budget proposal for 2005-06, he warned that "there is strong evidence that we will require added appropriations to meet this demand" of a growing caseload.
At the start of the meeting, First Selectwoman Linda Roberts said that closing the department was not a viable option, according to various statutes she referenced. The department is also responsible for honoring contracts with its officers, which requires them to be paid through the end of the year, she said.
Roberts warned that failure of the motion would "put the town in turmoil and cause unnecessary legal expenditures."
The department's budget is expected to grow 1.14 percent next year, from $2.17 million to $2.2 million.
©Journal Inquirer 2006
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