PUTNEY — For the last few years, Windham County Sheriff Keith Clark has sounded the alarm with the towns his deputies patrol.
His costs are going up, he tells them, and so will theirs.
Take Putney. If the town receives the same number of patrol hours as in fiscal year 2019 from the Windham County Sheriff's Office, the proposed contract for the next year will rise by just over $11,000.
But in a recent discussion, town officials explored another option that could reduce costs: reducing the patrol time from 40 hours per week to 32.
A 'significant increase'
According to Clark, who confirmed the numbers with The Commons, the town's FY19 contract is $70,000, which covers 2,000 hours for the year at a rate of $35 per hour. The proposed FY20 contract for the same number of patrol hours is $40.62 per hour, an 11 percent jump, for a total of $81,240.
When Town Manager Karen Astley received this information and shared it with the Selectboard last month, the board invited Clark to attend the Dec. 5 meeting to discuss the issue.
“It's a significant increase” over FY19, Clark acknowledged. He noted that “it's not just for Putney. It's across all the towns” the WCSD serves.
Clark explained some of the math, and the story, behind the sudden increase.
The checkbook dwindled
It all started with a somewhat distorted cost for towns, like Putney, that receive full-time coverage from the WCSD. Much of that initial contract, Clark said, “was based on a federal grant [which] limited what we could charge for.”
Clark could not charge towns for vehicle or dispatching costs, only for the “direct hourly cost for the deputy” which served the town, he said.
Over time, these “indirect” costs increased, but the accounting didn't keep up. “We never really took a look at what does it actually cost to put deputies on the road,” Clark said.
Clark was forced to take a look this fall, when, as he said, “I watched the checkbook dwindle.”
One of the biggest indirect costs, Clark said, is for patrol vehicles, at an average cost per town per year of $6,000.
Dispatching is another big cost, but the WCSD contracts with Bellows Falls and Bennington for dispatch services.
Those dispatching contracts offset about half of the costs of the service, but the rest has to come from the towns because, Clark noted, “my dispatch is not funded by county dollars.”
Another big expense is employee health insurance. Although this year Clark said he will get “a small break” on the cost, it's not much relief overall. In the 12 years he's been sheriff, his department's health insurance costs “have almost doubled,” he said.
During his analysis of what it costs to put a deputy on the road, Clark also included ways to reduce those costs.
“I realized this is going to be scary” for the towns' officials, but he has to be fair to all parties, including his department, he told Selectboard members.
Clark pledged he would “do all I can do” to keep costs down.
“Now is a good time” for the Legislature to work on a better funding plan for supporting county sheriffs, said Clark, and he encouraged the Selectboard to talk to their representatives about this.
Clark said he has retained Boston-based consulting firm, Empower Success Corps, which works with nonprofit organizations on strategic planning, development, and leadership transitions.
The firm will help the sheriff look at his department's internal and external operations, policies and risks, and contracts with town and vendors.
The ultimate goal, Clark said, is for the consultants to advise him on ways to save money, tap into new markets, and improve recruitment and retention of deputies - another challenge.
“I'm running short on staff,” he noted.
Clark told The Commons that Empower Success Corps's work with his department started before Thanksgiving, when their staff started interviewing his staff. The entire process, including Empower's report, should be finished by around April, Clark said.
This process should enable Clark to decrease the proposed FY20 budget early next year. But, he admitted, that timetable presents a problem for the Selectboard, which needs to develop its budget well before March's Annual Town Meeting.
More coverage than necessary?
Clark advised the board to consider whether the town really needs full-time law-enforcement coverage.
Selectboard Chair Josh Laughlin asked the sheriff for his opinion: Should Putney reduce its patrol hours?
The short answer: yes.
Clark suggested that the town contract for somewhere between 1,500 and 1,600 hours per year, which will give the town approximately 32 hours per week.
The sheriff does not think Putney should contract for less than 1,500 hours per year.
“We're pretty busy in this community,” said Clark.
That decrease in service hours, Clark said, “will give us a chance to see if the community notices that difference,” without making a “huge, drastic change.”
The decrease would likely bring the FY20 contract amount down to “a little lower than what you're paying this year,” Clark said, and added he is still punching numbers and will soon bring some better figures to the town.
But he recommended that the Selectboard ask residents what they want in their police services.
“Putney is a little different from many of the towns we patrol,” Clark said. His office gets more service calls - requests for proactive policing and for help, sometimes with the need for social-service issues - from townspeople of Putney than it does from residents in other places.
The town's deputy tries to balance writing traffic tickets with “helping people,” said Clark. Some calls involve extended follow-up, and they aren't quick visits, he noted.
His deputies also visit schools - not to patrol them, but to give the youth the opportunity to develop familiarity and trust with members of law enforcement.
“That's where a lot of the value is,” Clark said, and asked the board, “is that of value to you?"
Beyond traffic stops
A few Selectboard members and Astley provided some community feedback they've received.
Astley said some residents want more patrolling; others want less.
Laughlin said the only time he hears complaints from residents about policing is when someone is upset about getting “too many tickets” for motor vehicle violations, “and I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for that,” he added.
Board member Steve Hed said he has heard concerns from residents whose property tax bills keep going up, sometimes to the point where they cannot pay them.
“Their perception is that we're paying $70,000 to $80,000 a year for people to get stopped” for traffic violations, said Hed. “I've had a few pretty irate people talk to me about that,” he said, and noted those residents are unaware of the Sheriff Department's proactive policing and social-services work.
Clark said his department tries to get the word out through press releases and social media, but privacy concerns limit what he can release about their work.
“I've heard it, too: 'The only time I see you is when you're stopping a car,'” the sheriff said.
What those residents don't realize, Clark said, is that in addition to the social-service and relationship-building efforts, his deputies are “working on some other serious offenses in this community.”
Those challenges, he said, include “[e]verything from domestic violence cases, to the DUIs, to the drug cases, and working with other police and partners,” including the Vermont State Police.
“That's all part of what you're paying for,” Clark said.