WEST AMWELL: COPS funding is needed to avoid police layoffs

Police layoffs have not been ruled out as the township faces a budget shortfall of $200,000

By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
   WEST AMWELL — In an effort to reduce expenses, the township will apply for a COPS grant.
   Formally known as the COPS Hiring Recovery Program, its funds stem from the federal stimulus money allocated to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The act will allocate $1 billion nationwide to counter police layoffs and save jobs.
   Police layoffs have not been ruled out in West Amwell as the township faces a budget shortfall of $200,000.
   During a recent Township Committee meeting, officials did not say how much the township plans to apply for, but Mayor William Corboy noted the program can award $25,000 per officer, plus benefits.
   ”It won’t cover the cost of officers, but it would go a long way to reducing our costs,” the mayor said. “We’ve decided, given the dire circumstances we find ourselves in, to see if we could get some of the police officers’ positions funded.”
   Mayor Corboy emphasized the township is not seeking to add any new positions in the Police Department. COPS grants may be used to hire a new officer, to bring back one who has been laid off or to prevent a scheduled layoff.
   The township plans to slash police overtime by about 50 percent to save about $45,000 in the 2009 budget, according to the mayor.
   In the township’s Police Department, if an officer works the second or third shift one day and has court duty the following day, he is paid time-and-a-half for the court duty.
   Also, if an officer is called into work as backup for another officer who is working his regular shift, the officer who is called in receives overtime.
   Mayor Corboy has said to avoid layoffs, the township had asked its police union to voluntarily give up or reduce its contractual 4 percent raise this year because of the tight budget.
   The proposal never got off the ground although the police union said it was willing to negotiate if it could take a look at the township’s financial information.
   The township, along with Lambertville, is waiting for the results of a feasibility study that is expected to determine if a south county police force, combining the two municipalities’ forces and possibly servicing East Amwell as well, is a good idea.
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