Boardman voters asked to approve levy
BOARDMAN TAX LEVIES
Township residents will see the following levies on the November ballot:
ADDITIONAL
Five-year, 3.85-mill police levy, which would raise about $3.7 million annually and add $116.80 a year to the property-tax bill of the owner of a $100,000 home.
RENEWALS
Five-year, 0.7-mill for the township.
Five-year, 6-mill for the school district.
Five-year, 5.9-mill for the school district.
Three-year, 1.6-mill for the school district.
BOARDMAN
Township trustees say they’re taking the township in a new direction — starting with the 3.85-mill police levy on the ballot next month.
The new five-year levy is expected to generate about $3.7 million annually, earmarked solely for the police department. It would cost the owner of a home valued at $100,000 an additional $116.80 each year, or 32 cents a day.
Trustee Larry Moliterno said the board eventually would like to see each township department have its own levy.
“If this levy passes, the police department will become very close to being able to be self-sufficient, and our long-term goal is to have all the levies be specific for departments, so the voters can decide what they want to support. And there’s no more having a general fund that can be redistributed any way the trustees want to,” he said.
The police department had 63 officers in 2006, but dropped to 47 including Chief Jack Nichols. The investigative division fell from 13 detectives to eight. Currently five patrol cars are on township streets during each shift.
“This board has made the comment that we want to increase the number of police officers each year by two for the next five years. When we took office, we were at 47 and we want to get it to 57,” said Trustee Tom Costello.
Two will be added this month using a one-time federal grant that will provide the officers’ starting salary — $16 per hour — for three years and stipulates that the township pay for a fourth year, bringing the total number to 49, he added.
If the levy passes, Moliterno said the board “would give authority to the chief to hire them right away, literally the day after the election.”
The process of vetting, interviewing and training could take awhile, he said.
Nichols said the need for new officers is dire.
“If I have to go do the background investigations myself, I’ll do it to make it happen faster. That’s how desperate we are to get people on,” Nichols said.
Costello said should the levy pass, the amount given to the police department from the general fund will be adjusted.
“We can’t tell you there won’t be an adjustment. If our budget is $7 million, we’re not going up from a $7 million budget to a $10 million police budget,” he said.
The police budget for 2010 is $7 million.
Trustee Brad Calhoun emphasized that although increasing patrols is the priority, attention must also be given to the support services, such as the juvenile-diversion program and victim advocates.
The detective bureau handles between 200 and 250 active cases each month, and an individual detective could have as many as 32 cases in one month, said Capt. Donald Hawkins.
Asked if the bureau has solved the same number of cases as when it was fully staffed, Hawkins said, “No, I can’t say that honestly. We’re trying. Sometimes you just can’t get to some things.”
“The patrol division is the core,” he said. “It does need bolstered, and we’ll have to sit and wait.”
In 2008, 62.8 percent of township voters approved a 2.2-mill police and fire levy.
In February of that year, the township laid off nine of the 39 full-time firefighters, all nine part-time firefighters, the fire chief’s secretary and seven police civilian employees, according to Vindicator files.
Sixteen of the 67 members of the police department left voluntarily, many for other positions feeling that layoffs were imminent, said Administrator Jason Loree.
The purpose of the layoffs was to save money for the future, said fiscal officer William Leicht.
Fifty percent of the 2008 levy commitment was honored with the firefighters brought back, and the current board stepped in January and reopened Station 74 on South Avenue, said Calhoun.
During the 2008 campaign, trustees said if the levy passed, it could add up to five police officers. One officer was added because of that levy, Moliterno said.
The promise of 10 came from the former Police Chief Patrick Berarducci, he said.
“The number from the trustees was never 10, and the police chief was not authorized to say 10,” Moliterno said.
Leicht said the problem came from the 2008 board, which was Moliterno, Kathy Miller and Robyn Gallitto.
“It was mismanagement from the top,” he said. “And because of that, the department heads never changed their mode of operation. ... They continued on providing the same level of service and how’d they do that — with overtime.”
He said the money spent on overtime ended up canceling any savings from the layoffs.
Loree said trustees now have a different philosophy on deployment of manpower in the fire department, which has saved significant money this year compared to last.
“... We’ve managed to open three fire stations 24/7. That was a campaign promise and if you look at 2010 we carried a balanced budget with no new money,” Leicht said.
In 2009, the police department accrued more than $255,000 in overtime. Ranking officers were paid $89,425.46; patrol officers, $148,953.40; and clerical support, $20,730.89.
As of Oct. 7, the department had spent in overtime $67,726; $70,459; and $6,880 for rank, patrol and clerical support, respectively.
“Our overtime is very minimal,” Nichols said. “If you back out the overtime paid for by the FBI, DEA and U.S. Marshalls, our overtime would be next to nil. We cut it back because we had to.”
Those who would like to get a yard sign to support the police levy may call the township administration building at 330- 726-4177.