DALTON, Mass. — After several meetings discussing the contentions Police Department budget, a resolution is in sight. 

The finance committee unanimously approved recommending a Police Department budget of $1,631,083 for the special town meeting on Thursday, June 26 at 7 p.m. in Wahconah Regional High School. 

"We worked together to come up with this new budget…the presentation that we received from the chief today was an excellent presentation," said Finance Committee chair William Drosehn III. 

The amount is $33,841 less than the $1,664,924 that was rejected during the annual town meeting.

"I would say 96 percent of our budget is contractual," Police Chief Deanna Strout said. 

Strout highlighted how the town had already cut a substantial amount from the police budget equating to over $30,000. 

The department initially proposed a budget of $1,679,488, a $144,232 or 9.39 percent increase, mainly caused by salary increases. However, during a Finance Committee in April, it was negotiated down to $1,664,924. 

In addition to that, Strout said she had made cuts to the budget prior to presenting it to the Select Board and Finance Committee before town meeting. 

Shortly after the Finance Committee meeting in April, an officer resigned to take a position in a different agency. 

"When that happened, we did have an active list that we were able to very quickly hire a new officer," Strout said. 

Strout emphasized the costly process of hiring and onboard officers, which can cost $50,000 and $70,000 to cover the training and academy. 

"That is why it is so important to retain the ones we have, because it is extremely expensive and time consuming when we have to replace them. So, we want to work hard to retain our people. It's very, very important," Strout said. 

This is something Town Manager Tom Hutcheson understood during the contract negotiations, she said.

More than two decades ago, only the best police candidates were hired, and those who were hired remained due to the challenges of obtaining police jobs, Strout said. 

That is no longer the case, there is a slow supply of police officers but a high demand for them, giving employees an advantage in the job market and requiring agencies to compete, she said. 

"The patrol officers and the sergeants opted for a higher raise their first year of the contract and lower year two and year three. Dispatch and highway went consistent year one, two and three, they're actually higher raises than what the patrol officers got by a little bit," Strout said. 

"But our guys just opted to go a little higher year one to try to catch up with the surrounding agencies, because we're a little behind so and that was what they negotiated with the Town Manager." 

An officer's starting salary is $27,033, which is "crazy" low, especially with the high cost to replace them. The department should be like Becket, who is about $33 above Dalton, one Finance Committee member said. 

"We just lost an officer to Beckett. We talk about this all the time, and I harp on the retention and let's be realistic when we say this, the pay is not great, the building's disgusting…We have to do better, and I feel like they did a good job," Strout said. 

"I credit [Hutcheson] with this every time, because he understands the value of retaining the people we have. It's a lot of money to keep losing these people." 

The department's new hire allowed the department to make more cuts to the budget because he is not making as much as the previous officer and does not have as many stipends, including the college reimbursement stipend. 

Additionally, Strout made cuts to the reserve officer shifts, reducing it from 50 shifts down to 30. 

She clarified that one reserve (part-time) officer works when he is available and has a full time job somewhere else. She cannot force him to work. 

"We ran a payroll report to see how many shifts our reserve officer works…This year the reserve officer has worked 29 shifts. So, we decided to cut that budget by $3,584 for 35 shifts," she said. 

"When I started in 2021 as chief, that budget was over $51,000. It is now down to $8,364 and that's a result of the reform bill and not being able to have the reserve officers." 

The matron hours were also reduced by 10 hours, decreasing the line item by $477.

"When we budget for overtime, that is simply vacation shifts. When I say vacation shifts…we have to fill those shifts. We can't just go unmanned at all, so we have to back fill those shifts," Strout said. 

There's 263 shifts of contractual vacation time, 48 personal days, and the department budgets for 60 sick days.

Officers get 15 sick days per year but typically they do not see that type of usage. 

"This year we were over about 76 days. I didn't change that in my budget, because I don't think that was a norm. We had an officer get injured outside of work, so he used sick time significantly more than he normally would,” Strout said.

"So, that's what brought that number up. So I didn't feel the need to change that, but because the new officer has less vacation time than the departing officer."

There were a few other decreases related to training and community policing because it was not costing as much as previously anticipated. 

Following the annual town meeting, elected officials were split on how to proceed with the budget, with the Select Board voting to support the original police budget of $1,664,924 and the Finance Committee narrowly voting to recommend a reduced amount of $1,644,378. 

Strout was unable to attend the previous Finance Committee meeting, where the vote to recommend took place because she was not informed of it until 2:13 p.m. on the day of the meeting and had a prior engagement. 

Although public officials were previously divided on the budget, they did agree on one thing–the need for better communication.

"I know the last time [the Finance Committee] met, you voted to cut a certain amount of money in that meeting. We agreed today that we would have a little bit better communication, because that was never given to me," Strout said. 

"I didn't know what that number was, and it's important for me to have that so I can work on my budget on my end, to get that done appropriately and do the best I can. 

Before the Finance Committee meeting on Wednesday night, three members of the Finance Committee met with two select board members, police department officials, and town managers to discuss the budget. 

"When I first called [Hutcheson, and interim Town Manager Terry Williams III] about setting this meeting up today, I was a little apprehensive that it would happen. I wanted to get everybody on the same page…the collusion we made together, and I think we made some big strides here today," Select Board chair Robert Bishop said. 

"So, I'm hoping you'll pass this budget. I've called a meeting for next Monday to reapprove it from the Select Board. We are one town." 

The meeting included the following participants: Finance Committee members Drosehn, Thomas Irwin (vice chair), and Shaun Beverly, Bishop and another Select Board member, Strout, Sergeant Geoffrey Powell (president of the Superior Officers Union), Police Department Administrative Assistant Rebecca Whitaker, Hutcheson and Williams.