Police chief cut costs, hopes to buy cruiser

Reduction of overtime helped police stay within a $315,000 budget.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
LEETONIA -- After about three years of penny-pinching, police Chief John Soldano hopes his 2006 budget will include money for a new cruiser.
Soldano said the department has not bought a new cruiser for about four years. He said he decided to ask for one for 2006 because the department was on a more firm financial footing in 2005 than in the three years preceding.
The police budget comes directly from the general fund. There is no police levy in place. Soldano said he is hesitant to ask village residents for a police levy because many residents are elderly on fixed incomes.
Cutting costs
Keeping within a tight budget the past few years has meant not only no new purchases, but also reduction in expenses, such as cruiser maintenance and purchase of equipment and office supplies, he said. Soldano said he never had to lay off any officers or dispatchers, just adjusted some shifts.
The biggest difference this year from 2004 was that reduction of overtime helped police stay within budget, Soldano said.
"A lot of overtime can kill a budget very quickly," he said.
The police budget is about $315,000 of the village's $669,000 general fund. Clerk Judy Garlough estimates the 2006 general fund budget will be about the same.
Soldano said police and dispatchers worked about 85 hours of overtime in 2005, compared with about 150 hours in 2004. Personnel worked a lot of overtime in 2004 because of turnover among dispatchers.
Dispatchers left for jobs that were full-time and paid better, he said. Now there is more stability among dispatchers. Two who have found full-time employment also continue to dispatch in Leetonia, he said. All dispatchers are part-time workers.
"We don't have much turnover at all among our officers," said Soldano, who is in his ninth year as chief. "Most of them have worked with me long enough to know how I like the department to operate. It is love of the job and dedication that keeps people here. It's not the money."
There are four full-time officers, including Soldano, and nine part-time patrolmen, he said. Soldano's second in command, a sergeant, earns $11.85 per hour, the highest-paid patrolman makes $10.65 per hour, and the chief dispatcher earns $9.41 per hour, he said.
Soldano said that despite tight budgets, the department is effective. There have been no violent crimes in the village in 2005. Soldano said police and dispatchers have developed and maintain a good rapport with the community, particularly within the school system.
Chris Wetzel is the only school resource officer currently working in Columbiana County, Soldano said. Wetzel is assigned full time to work with pupils, staff and parents of Leetonia Schools.
Wetzel is in the third year of a three-year grant, and Soldano hopes the village can pay Wetzel's salary and benefits when the Community Oriented Policing Services grant from the U.S. Department of Justice expires.
tullis@vindy.com