Webster, N.Y. - The Town of Webster is looking at cuts to its Police Department as a way to close a $600,000 budget deficit.
The plan calls for three out of seven officers with more than 20-years of experience to voluntarily accept an early retirement package with a $15,000 incentive.
This proposal comes to union members one day after they agreed to a new three-year contract according to Webster Police 1000 Club Vice President Carl Adriaansen.
Currently the Webster Police Department employs 29 officers and Chief Gerald Pickering. The elimination of three positions equates to a 10 percent cut to a force that serves a community of roughly 45,000 people.
At first glance the proposal doesn't get much support from one resident.
"Heck no, they're there to protect us, if we don't have them we're lost," Henry Aylward said. "There's a lot of crime in little Webster here. A lot of people think it's a place where ‘Life is Worth Living’ - if you're not shot, stabbed, or drugs or one thing or another.”
"What the heck, raise the taxes just a little tiny bit,” Doris Aleo said. “Right now we need the police more than we ever did."
There are other things to consider in this complex equation. Webster Police comprise 41 percent of a roughly $15 million budget and pension costs across all town departments increased a half-million dollars in the last budget year alone.
"The reality is--people can not afford more taxes," Webster Town Supervisor Ron Nesbitt said. "We have not raised taxes in four years and when the town board looked at the budget, we had a deficit of around $600,000 and we had to find a way to close that gap."
Adriaansen said his union fears the effects these cuts will have on safety. He believes it will leave the department “grossly understaffed” at 1980 staffing levels--for a community that’s seen its population increase significantly over the last 30 years.
Adriaansen said he believes the move would also mean the department’s two community safety officers would be put back on the road and pulled from the DARE or car seat initiative programs.
"Webster Police are still here and they're going to be here as long as I'm here,” Supervisor Nesbitt said. “I support the Webster Police. We're going to have to do more with less and what that means to me is that some of the response times with these non-priority calls may be longer."
This proposal will be unveiled to the public at Thursday night’s Town Board meeting at 7:30 p.m. The full budget will be released on October 12 and the public can weigh in at a budget hearing scheduled for October 20.
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