BOT Considers Cuts to DARE Program, Container Days

The Board of Trustees met at Village Hall Tuesday night for a budget workshop, this time reviewing the operating budgets for the Department of Public Works and the Police Department. Faced with a hefty projected municipal tax increase, the Board is searching for ways to decrease costs without limiting services.

DPW Director Mario Luciani and Police Chief James Chelel provided thorough breakdowns of their budgets, looking line-by-line for places to lower costs. The clearest cut will be to the DARE program, designed to educate local students on the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.

The DPW's $2.1 million operating budget is comprised of 14 categories. The majority falls within five: care and maintenance of town-owned trees, $227,459; leaf collection, $305,083; recycling, $284,658; garbage pick-up, $352,029; and vehicle maintenance, $260,895.

Asked what could be done, Luciani was direct, saying, "You want to save some money, cut some services."

Foremost on his list is container days at the DPW yard, which cost nearly $49,000 in 2009, including cleaning the yard and disposing of the items. Household container pick-ups, done by appointment, cost an addition $23,000. The Board discussed eliminating one container day and charging a fee for household pick-up.

A major point of contention from the Board was that Saturdays are always categorized as overtime days. Trustees questioned why working a Saturday at the recycling yard garners overtime, since it's a known requirement for the job.

While the Board discussed outsourcing several services, they acknowledged that the ability to do so is limited, at least for now, by the current union contract. Also, Village Administrator John Gross said, the "leaf issue and snow are the two things that drive [the budget]." Both are seasonal, but employees are needed full-time during those seasons, and, therefore, throughout the year. It does not make sense to outsource other services and leave the full-time employees with nothing to do.

The Police Department's operating budget is about $306,000, not including police salaries and overtime pay. The total budget is about $10 million. Chelel started by noting that, "the budget has gone down every year, and we stay within it every year." In 2009, about $10,000 was left over, he said.

The first thing to go this year, he said, will be the DARE program, which costs nearly $9,000 in officer hours; furthermore, schools no longer seem interested. In its place, the police department will offer a one-time visit to schools and literature to be handed out in the classrooms.

The Board asked about the efficiency of the school bus routes, and if anything could be done to decrease the number of crossing guards without hampering safety. Chelel agreed to look into it.

Village President Doug Newman remarked on the lack of accountability for overtime spending in four PD categories: patrol, special details, dispatch and crossing guards. "I have no understanding of what we spend in the four categories," he said. "We're still, one year later, flying blind on what we spend on police officers doing that… I'm trying to understand massive costs, and a year later I am still searching for the same answers." Chelel again agreed to analyze these categories.

Another boiling point came over the discussion of dispatchers. This year, 330 police hours were spent answering phones. At $50 per hour, it amounts to $16,500 spent on dispatch. The number of dispatchers was cut in half, but officers are still used for the role. "It is unfathomable," Newman said, "that in this economy we cannot find dispatchers. There are millions of people looking for jobs. We need another hiring model, because this is not working." He asked Chelel to come back with a list of applicants the next time they meet.

The Board asked that the police department consider hiring a consultant to analyze the productivity of the department. The department is excellent, Trustees said, and their work wasn't being criticized, but it's important to ensure that productivity is at peak potential.

Michael Auer, chair of the Citizens Budget Advisory Committee, agreed. "Getting productivity out of staff is the crux of any process," he says, "the crux of coming to grips with our budget issues."

Correction: The article originally stated that a discussion about the lack of accountability for police spending fell into the categories of patrol, special details, dispatch and crossing guards. Village President Doug Newman sent Patch a note to clarify that the discussion was specifically about overtime spending.