Police Chief Asks For Budget Increase to Save 25th Officer

To avoid cutting a police officer in light of budget shortfalls, Police Chief David Banaszynski proposed Tuesday to instead cancel the purchase of a new police car and increase the police department budget by three percent.

Due to the state-mandated two-year budget freeze, the village had asked department heads to draft budgets with zero percent increases.

However, village trustees noted Tuesday that the police department was in an especially difficult situation having increasing salary and benefits costs, with police officers not subject to the new state law, Act 10 or the budget repair bill, which curtails collective bargaining rights for many public workers.

“In other departments, we have offsetting costs that came from Act 10,” Trustee Thad Nation said. “In the police department we don’t have that, which is not anyone else’s fault but the legislature.”   

Banaszynski said cutting the planned replacement of a squad car would save about $42,000. He said officers would adjust their usage of the cars to reduce miles to make the cars last a bit longer.

“Instead of buying two squad cars next year, which was the normal replacement package, we’re going to replace one each year,” Banaszynski said. “I worked really hard on this budget and I’m asking to maintain our level of police.”

Banaszynski’s original proposal to cut an officer would have brought the department closer to a zero percent increase, saving about $68,000 in the first year. 

If the new proposal goes through, the department will hire a new officer to fill a position that was vacated this year, bringing the department back to 25 officers.

Banaszynski said negotiations with police officers begin Wednesday, so it’s possible the budget could change.  

Village trustees did not raise any major concerns with this proposal Tuesday, but they did discuss other aspects of the budget.

Looking for ways to save money, Trustee Don Ford asked Finance Director Stephanie Walker to determine whether village departments could buy certain office supplies together in bulk for better prices. Trustee Ellen Eckman suggested the board reevaluate the $7,012 position of the summer crossing guard who works on North Oakland Avenue and East Capitol Drive eight hours per day, five days a week.

Village officials also expect to save a larger chunk of change in the health department budget, due to its with six other North Shore municipalities.  

Jamie Berg, who will be the director of the North Shore Health Department, presented the budget Tuesday, showing about a $114,000 savings for Shorewood.

However, there will also be a loss of about $75,000 in revenue, which was primarily from a contract with Whitefish Bay because it shared health services with Shorewood.  

With the merger comes the question of what to do with reserve money from Shorewood’s health department. Berg said there is about $100,000 from immunization fees over the years, as well as $40,000 from a fund for other health programs.  

The village has not decided what to do with the money, but it will likely stay with the village, rather than moving to the new health department.

Some trustees suggested keeping a portion of the reserve money on hand as a cushion in case Shorewood’s contribution to the North Shore Health Department increases. The board will discuss the funds more at a future meeting.