Dalton Special Town Meeting Set for Dec. 13
DALTON, Mass. — The Select Board has set a special town meeting for Wednesday, Dec. 13, at 7 p.m. at the Wahconah Regional High School to vote on adding an additional $25,000 to the police detail fund.
The police detail fund is a revolving account that is currently paid up to $25,000 but is drained when a large number of details happen. It stays drained until it is replenished by payments from the private entities that hire the details.
When the fund is substantially drained, the payment schedule for officers who work details is unpredictable, Police Chief Deanna Strout has said.
From July 23 to Nov. 13, the town billed out $74,009.50 and has taken in $61,979.
"The issue is, we're invoicing out well over $30,000 a month. It's about a four-week return time," Strout told the Finance Committee last week.
To avoid the risk of operating in a deficit the fund would need an additional $25,000 because the July 1 contract negotiations increased the detail rate.
The state Department of Revenue agreed that a revolving account is appropriate, Strout said.
According to DOR, the best practice is to "supplement that account substantially," so that they are not operating in a deficit, Strout said.
"It's not illegal or against the law to do so but it's not best practice either. So I need to supplement that account with a minimum of an additional $20,000 to make sure we don't operate at a deficit," Strout said.
Any deficit in an account needs to be resolved within 90 days of the end of the fiscal year, which falls on Sept. 30.
Although town officials and staff agree that there should be no deficit spending in this account they cannot agree on the operations of the police detail.
If the account is not made whole then the penalty is the amount of the deficit is removed from the following year's free cash. If the deficit is consistent year after year, there is a possibility the town would have to raise the deficit on its tax recap.
"Now, I don't begrudge the police details in any way, shape, or form. I don't. I encourage it actually, because that does indeed help our budgeting process," Finance Committee Chair William Drosehn said.
"But I have grave concerns when our police details have to be paid for by the taxpayers when private contractors should be paying for that."
There isn't a risk to taxpayers, Strout said. The town has "never not been squared off after the fiscal year within 30 days."
The payment to police officers working a detail is in addition to their regulr wages. The Snow and Ice budget is the only budget legally permitted to have deficit spending, Drosehn noted.
"I am of the opinion, that is nothing more than that, is that police details are a volunteer operation. In other words, they sign up for it and they get to go do them," Drosehn said.
"If we don't happen to have the money. I would have to say that those police details shouldn't be issued."
Operating in this manner will impede companies' ability to complete work, Strout said. The town gets 10 percent of the detail.
"It's frustrating because [a couple of members on the Finance Committee] let their personal opinions cloud what's best for the town," Strout said on in a follow up interview.
"The more we work, the more money the town takes in on administrative fees … in five years, the town has collected $46,000 in administrative fees."
The town has been discussing the police detail fund for more than 20 years, Drosehn said last week.
In many cases these police details are for private contractors, Drosehn said. There are other towns that have the officers bill the private contractors directly. In some cities, the local police association handles the police details so the city is not involved at all.
Since the administration of the fund changed to the police chief earlier this month, Strout has made it so vendors are required to pay within 15 days.
Most contractors are able to pay within 30 to 35 days, local businesses pay even quicker, Town Tax Collector Melissa Davis said in a previous meeting.
"Whether they listen to us or not, I don't know, but at least now we have that information at our hands," Strout said.
"We haven't had it because if they don't start paying quicker, they risk not having a detail and they can't work without their detail."
Finance Committee members asked why the private contractors cannot find other means to get police details.
"They can't, they have to use the police officers here," Strout said during the meeting.
In a follow up interview with iBerkshires, Strout clarified that the Dalton Police Department calls other departments for help on details because there are too many jobs for the town's officers to fill.
For example, when Dalton Division Road was being paved, there were police details from the sheriff's office and Hinsdale.
"So, we call other departments to come and help. They come to our town to help us, we go to their towns and help them. We all work together to try to make sure all these businesses can work and our officers can make the extra money when they need to," Strout said.
Since taking over the account, Strout told the Select Board on Monday, she has discovered that the fund is missing $6,000. She asked for records from the last two years during the Finance Committee meeting.
Strout said the highest the account has been is $19,000 in February 2022.
"It hasn't been balanced in a really long time. I can't find $6,000. I've been looking, I can't find it until I have access to that … We're not getting back to $25,000 like we should," she said.
Hutcheson added in a follow-up correspondence that the account is balanced regularly.
"The balance is between what is in the account and what is outstanding, so if there's $19,000 in the account, that means there is $6,000 outstanding," he said. "The account would only get back to $25,000 if no officers did details until all the outstanding money was received."
Strout has been working with Town Collector, Melissa Davis on the invoicing mechanics.
"The account became my responsibility. I take that seriously and if it's going to be my responsibility, I want it to be my responsibility. I want to make sure that the billing goes out. I want to make sure that I know what's coming in," the chief said.
Previously, the department would create invoices and Hunt would mail them using the town letterhead. Now, the department will handle mailing and collecting invoices and then give the deposits to the treasurer.
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