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LAKE COMO — The local Policemen’s Benevolent Association representing the borough’s officers continues to push back against the Council as they inch closer to disbanding the now eight-member force.
Members of PBA 50, which represents officers in eight coastal towns in Monmouth County from Bradley Beach through Sea Girt and Neptune City, accused the Borough Council at its meeting Tuesday night of muddling the proposed cost figures to keep the force.
The figures were presented by a local government services representative from the state Department of Community Affairs who has worked closely with Lake Como officials in their quest to stay under a 2-percent tax cap. As of 2011, municipalities cannot raise their local tax levy by more than 2 percent
In October, Lake Como officials announced they would be accepting proposals for police services after the initial $3.3 million budget projection for 2016 put the borough $643,000 above the 2-percent cap. Nearly 50 percent of that budget is devoted to police services.
Belmar looks to acquire Lake Como police services
Lake Como, which has a population of 1,800, had announced in October that, due to budget restraints, having its own police department was no longer feasible.
In previous years, the borough was able to use one-time revenue plugs, court revenues and other cash surpluses to stay below the 2-percent cap. But those options are not available for 2016, officials said.
The borough, with a population of 1,738 people, can only exceed the 2-percent cap by putting it to a vote.
Lake Como Mayor Brian Wilton said the town can’t continue to operate by taking funding from elsewhere to sustain the police force.
“No one wants to get rid of them, I don’t want to get rid of them,” Wilton said of the police officers. “This is the toughest thing I’ve ever had to do. But, when it boils down to it, you can only kick the can down the road so far.”
Speaking during the public comment portion of Tuesday night’s meeting, held at a charter school across from Borough Hall to accommodate the influx in attendance, an attorney representing PBA 50, Merick Limsky, questioned the borough’s transparency.
“The only number we were discussing up until this point was the ($643,000) number that was put forth to the state,” Limsky said. “… So as a PBA we were operating under a few hundred thousand dollars, maybe we can make up that, where is it? Maybe there are things that can be done. Now (you’re) just throwing a whole bunch of numbers (at us).”
According to Rick Richardella, the local government services representative, the optimal set up for a police department in Lake Como would be comprised of 13 sworn officers and an administrative assistant/records clerk. In order to properly staff the department, it would cost the borough $2.4 million, said Richardella, a former police chief with 44 years of law enforcement experience.
When factoring in the optimal number of officers, the 2016 budget projection swells to $3.7 million, putting it $1.1 million over the levy cap.
Two of the nine officers in Lake Como have already left and joined Belmar’s force since the borough’s announcement.
Richardella said, based on the number of 911 calls placed by residents in Lake Como, the borough only needs 1.3 officers.
If Lake Como accepts Belmar’s proposal, it will reduce its projected 2016 budget by 48 percent, or $911,000, Richardella said. That equates to a 24-cent tax reduction in the municipal tax. Belmar is charging Lake Como $914,438 to take over the police services, not including the cost of seasonal summer officers.
But PBA 50 representatives contend that having Belmar take over police services threatens the police presence in Lake Como. They expressed concern with a comment made by Richardella in his presentation that more cops does not equal a reduction in crime rates.
The president of PBA 50, Tony Pecelli, a patrolman with the Avon-by-the-Sea Police Department, called that assertion “ridiculous” and “silly.”
“I hope there’s 25 cops on the little street I live on, the more the merrier,” Pecelli said.
Photo by Rob Spahr | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. Michael Vollbrecht, first vice president of PBA50, challenged the Council’s comfort with trading a designated police presence in the borough with a roving patrol from Belmar.
Wilton said it’s not a concern for him, given there are homes in Lake Como closer to Belmar police headquarters than some homes in Belmar.
The exchange between Vollbrecht and the Council became testy when he questioned its transparency with the PBA.
Councilman Kevin Higgins said he’s been meeting with the Lake Como police officers since last summer, and the PBA ceased communications.
“The union decided to stop negotiations, so don’t sit here and tell me that I am not having a line of communication,” Higgins said.
Vollbrecht responded, “We’re open to negotiations.”
Most of the residents in attendance who chose to speak during the public portion of the meeting expressed concern with losing the department, citing concerns with the raucous bar crowds that spill over into the streets of the quarter-square-mile borough during the summertime.
But other residents, like Cynthia McSweeney, commended the police department for a job well done, but couldn’t get past the amount being spent on the officers.
“It’s come to the point where it’s breaking the backs of the citizens of this town,” she said. “I just don’t see how it’s financially feasible. I’d love to keep the police department; everyone wants its own police department. … This isn’t Camden, it’s not Paterson, it’s Lake Como.”
Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
