With Public Safety Budgets Improving, Officials Set Sights on Long Term Goals

With the economy on an apparent uptick and town revenue from taxation, state aid and local receipts on the rise, Easton's Police and Fire chiefs are happy to be putting restoring some personnel lost during Fiscal Year 2012.

Their budgets, however, are still not where they would like them to eventually be.

Both chiefs said there is work to be done in the coming years to add boots to the ground.

Police Chief Allen Krajcik said that since 2009, the Police Department is down four officers. An increase in one officer and two part-time public safety dispatchers in FY13 will yield help this year, however.

He said that it is important to move slowly while restoring staff so that additional layoffs don't occur.

"I think its better for us to be a little bit conservative, plus adding the two dispatchers helps quite a bit," he said.

The two part-time dispatchers,, will serve for both the Fire Department and the Police Department. Currently Krajcik and Fire Chief Kevin Partridge are working out logistics in combining their dispatch systems. Within nine months, they hope to have the system up and running.

"Public safety dispatch will truly be public safety dispatch and will also include fire," Krajcik said.

Despite the additions, the chief said the department is still in need of detectives.

"I definitely need another detective," he said. "We used to have four and we’re down to two and they’re overwhelmed. There’s more overtime for our detectives. There are cases that are on the pile waiting to get addressed so it’s what’s the priority and the other things have to sit.’"

In addition to two part-time public safety dispatchers, the preliminary FY13 budget adds two firefighter paramedics to Easton's Fire Department.

Partridge said that the additional firefighters will allow the Department to have four shifts in which two will have eight on-duty firefighters and the other two will have nine.

Ideally, however, he would like to have 11 firefighters on shift to plan for sick days and vacations.

"11 people per shift would allow us to drop three, maintain eight man shifts and run both ambulances," he said.

Eight firefighters on duty at once allows both town ambulances to run, which in turn brings in revenue for the town, Partridge said. The town received approximately $512 per call, on average, Partridge said.

Additionally Partridge is aiming to add a Deputy Chief if the economy continues to improve in the coming years. The Easton Fire Department has been without a Deputy Chief since Thomas Stone was promoted from the position to chief in 2002.