ATHOL – To cope with an unexpected overtime increase at the police department, the Finance and Warrant Advisory Committee has approved a transfer from its reserve account.

The proposal was approved unanimously at the committee’s meeting on Tuesday. Following this $40,000 transfer, the account now has a balance of $46,536 until the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

Committee Chair Ken Duffy said that back in January, Police Chief Craig Lundgren reported a budget deficit of approximately $40,000 for the department. Several steps had reduced this approximately shortfall to $19,000, including suspending all training not mandated, putting a freeze on uniform purchases and moving some personnel. Then, two officers were injured.

“Both of those injuries were at home, so it’s not line of duty and we don’t get any reimbursement from insurance,” said Lundgren. “For the past three budgets I’ve done, someone has always been injured for over a year and we could use the insurance money to replace that person and not affect the overtime account.”

Lundgren said that the two injured officers work day shifts and will be out until later this summer. This leaves two shifts each week that need to be filled, done so by having a detective and sergeant work patrols. This leads to more overtime spending and brings the shortfall back up to $40,000.

“I know we’re going to be $40,000 short,” said the chief. “I can’t come up with any other ideas to cut that down.”

The chief said he recently reviewed the department’s budget for the past 15 years and noted that the overtime budget has changed little or not at all in that time.

“It’s been between $120,000 and $125,000 for 15 years,” he said. “But over 15 years, the overtime rate has increased drastically. Everyone gets more vacation time you have to fill. The training requirements have just about doubled under the new regulations. But the overtime remains the same.”

To handle the increased overtime, Lundgren said money is taken from the expense account, which means supplies can’t be bought and station repairs are deferred.

“If a cruiser breaks down, we have $30,000, I think, left in a donation account and we use that to make major repairs on the cruisers,” said the chief. “I don’t think it’s a good thing to do, but sometimes it’s necessary. We do what we have to to make it work.”

A related issue is that last year Town Manager Shaun Suhoski had put together a budget providing 20 full-time employees for the police department. However, the chief was unable to staff every position.

“We had someone who didn’t make it through the academy,” he explained. “Then injuries started to happen. So, the 19th person just graduated (from the academy) a few weeks ago. Back in the good old days, you’d hire a reserve officer who’s been working in Athol for years who knows the streets, knows how we do things. They get out of the academy and we put them right in a cruiser with someone else for a couple of weeks, and they fill that spot.”

The newest officer, however, did not come from the reserve ranks.

“The 19th person graduated, but he had no experience at all; he came from dispatch,” he said. “We can’t hire reserves anymore because of the new POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training) Commission and the new regulations; there are no more reserves. So, we hire fresh bodies without any experience.”

Another dispatcher just started at the police academy on Monday of this week, according to Lundgren, and should be graduating in early September.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.

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