Chesterfield Adopts Police Budget, Expected Not to Replace K-9 Unit

The Chesterfield Township Board of Trustees adopted a police budget for 2012 following a public hearing during the meeting Tuesday night.

No major changes were made to this year’s police budget, but a decline in tax revenue will cause a budgeted loss, the township’s financial director Victoria Bauer said.

“The total 2012 budget revenue is $7,462,910,” Bauer said. “Of that revenue, 91 percent comes from one single source; it comes from tax collections."

"Our tax revenue has decreased 22 percent since 2008, or nearly $2 million. The next largest revenue source is dispatch services, which makes up just 3 percent,” Bauer said.

Police expenses are expected to be about $9 million, resulting in a projected loss of about $1.5 million. The loss will be covered by money from the police fund balance.

“At the end of 2010, we had a fund balance in the police department of $5,709,000, approximately,” Bauer said during the meeting. “There is a loss projected for 2011 and 2012, so if you go through both of those losses, it’s projected to have a fund balance of $3,164,978.”

“We’ve been losing revenue so fast that it’s hard to keep up with,” Bauer added.

During the public hearing regarding police expenses, a few residents voiced their concern to the board about the future of the township’s police K-9 unit.

Late police K-9 dog Chaos will not be replaced and neither will fellow K-9 officer Bulzi after he retires at the end of this year, Clerk Jan Uglis said during the meeting.

“With not having a K-9 unit in the community, it’s doing an injustice to the community by eliminating that K-9 unit,” Uglis said.