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With Costs Rising, Police Budget Next In Line For Council Scrutiny
By Catherine Snipe
There is one department in Brick Township that keeps round the clock service and works 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year: the Brick Police Department.
And, Chief Ronald Dougard said in his budget presentation this week, the department must meet the minimum staffing requirements all those hours, keeping patrols covered all day, every day.
Dougard said during his comments to the township council Tuesday that those staffing needs have left the department with an increase in overtime costs.
The Brick Police Department pays $12.4 million in salaries in wages, $835,000 in overtime. However, the department has gone over the amount budgeted for overtime. As a result, Dougard is requesting about $960,000 in overtime.
Dougard said that when officers have to appear in court to testify, this paid time adds up and is contributing to the overtime wages.
Councilman Michael Thulen Sr. asked whether the department could look at ways to manage that time with the courts better, possibly rearranging the way court cases are scheduled.
Dougard said that would be a great idea. "It's not something we're overlooking," he said, but that some overtime cannot be managed that way, such as for midnight officers who must appear in court.
"I don't know of any courts that meet at midnight," Dougard said.
Thulen said the department's overtime is growing to almost 10 percent of the total budget for the department, at nearly $1 million.
"It continues to rise," Council Vice President Ruthanne Scaturro said. "No matter what is put on paper, we managed to spend more."
Council President Stephen Acropolis said, and council members agreed, that the police department provides an essential function to the township. But as the township faces again not receiving all the money it needs from the state, Brick Township needs to look at its spending.
"I wish we didn't have budgetary constraints, but we have to balance it," Acropolis said.
Dougard said the police department budget doesn't have a lot of latitude in it. It has to meet the minimum staffing requirements for the population as required by law.
"We don't have a lot of fluff," Dougard said.
The department has six areas it funds: the operating expenses for the police department, the 911 dispatchers, 20 special officers, school crossing guards, the 20 police Explorers program participants and the Emergency Medical Services. The department also had officers present in 245 training sessions.
"This line item (training) is often the one that gets cut," Dougard said. The training is underfunded, he argued, as last year the department had $13,000 budgeted for training and spent $21,000. For the next budget, Dougard requests $20,000.
It's one of several line items in the police department that went over budget. The operating budget, which had $281,000 budgeted, spent $292,000.
The police department's budget is often 26 to 29 percent of the total township budget, Township Business Administrator Scott Pezarras said.
The township's new EMS service leaves a bit of a question mark in the budget, Dougard said, and the amount of first aid supplies the township will need to purchase is an estimate.
Thulen asked if there was a way to better control costs associated with training officers, since the department pays for the tuition of the classes as well as paying the officer for hours spent at training.
"It gets really expensive when you don't train," Dougard said, meaning a lack of up-todate training comes at the expense of public safety.
Acropolis said the council is asking each department of the township to seriously look at its expenses.
"We work even harder when you say you can't (decrease a budget), to sit down and say, yes we can," he said.
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