Terry Traver
Scandia Reporter
If the city of Scandia drops its Washington County Sheriff’s Office contract, its police protection will likely drop by a significant number of hours. However, the City Council has continued debating whether the cost-cutting measure is a good one.
Currently, the initial proposed budget for 2016 would increase the city’s property tax levy by $40,362, or 1.82 percent. The city is increasing its road work expenses by about $350,000 to account for a large-scale road improvement project, but its debt service for several projects is also ending in 2015, leaving the city with fewer bills to pay next year. Even with the small levy increase, however, some council members have discussed eliminating the cost of the full-time deputy, at a savings of up to $121,000 per year.
At an Aug. 19 budget workshop meeting, Councilman Jim Schneider brought up the sheriff’s office contract again, after discussing it in recent meetings and earlier this year. things got a little contentious when the 2016 budget was discussed.
“It’s too much for too little service,” Schneider said of the $121,000 price tag.
Councilman Dan Lee said Schneider’s plan had potential.
“We could try it for a year and see how it goes,” he said. “We are paying $121,000 a year for one police shift, and the rest of the time we are covered by Washington County. It is not cost effective. The priority for our budget is to work on the roads.”
However, Mayor Randall Simonson reaffirmed his belief in the rightness of the contract, one he last demonstrated when he and Councilmen Bob Hegland and Chris Ness voted Aug. 11 to keep the cost of the deputy in the budget.
“I support the sheriff’s office,” he said. It is a good deal for our community. Not having a police presence makes us vulnerable.”
The day before the Aug. 19 work session, the council held a regular meeting in which Simonson read a letter sent to the city by Washington County Sheriff William Hutton. In the letter, Hutton wrote that the lack of a dedicated deputy in Scandia would likely increase response crimes significantly, even for some more serious crimes like theft and criminal damage to property. He also added that some deputy work, like the enforcement of traffic rules and local ordinances, could drop to very low levels.
“Please do not misinterpret this as the sheriff reacting to a decision that I disagree with,” he wrote. “It is the reality of the nature of the work. The county is not in a position to hire additional personnel to cover police services for the city of Scandia.”
Hutton added that Scandia citizens pay $28 per person per year for the contract. According to Hutton, other communities contracting with a sheriff’s office pay anywhere from $28 to $100 per capita, and cities of a similar size throughout the seven-county metro area who have a municipal police department may pay more than $200 per capita for 24/7 coverage.
Scandia contracts for 2,080 hours of “in contract” services per year, but Hutton said that because there is a contract in effect, the city receives far more direct service than the 40 hours per week that the contract provides. Scandia is a priority for area cars under the current contract. Should the city elect to terminate the contract and later request to start again, an evaluation and needs assessment would need to be performed per the Sheriff.
The current contract requires a 180-day notice to terminate. After receiving queries about whether the contract could be put to referendum, Handt did some research and found that issues of that kind cannot be put on the ballot. The council also discussed putting the question in the Scandia newsletter and asking for an informal response, though Handt said previous attempts to do so have yielded low feedback.
“Put some statistics in the newsletter like the $28 cost per person,” Hegland suggested. Handt agreed to put the information in the October newsletter.
Dump truck
Public Works Director Dave Williams, did an inspection, road test and went over five years of Department of Transportation inspections on the truck he is requesting be replaced. He said, “The vehicle’s interior is wearing such as that the air-ride seat is not working well anymore. The truck has 45,000 to 46,000 miles on it” Williams suggested the truck be traded in as planned.
“Once this is done, we will have a pretty good fleet on our hands for several years,” Williams said.
Hegland wanted to know more options, admitting that he doesn’t know much about the vehicles, but ultimately the council agreed to purchase a new dump truck.
Fire department
The council discussed eliminating the fire department’s dive team, which would save around six thousand dollars per year. Hegland said that not all firefighters should be EMS trained, which would lower costs by providing less training. He added that it is difficult to cut the budget because the council doesn’t know enough about the issues with the Fire Department. Fire Chief Mike Hinz attended the meeting but had to leave for a call before the council could fully question him about the team.
– Ryan Howard contributed to this story.