State College Borough Council grilled Police Chief Tom King last night for more than an hour and a half on two funding issues in the proposed 2004 police budget.
One was whether to accept overtime grants from both the Homeland Security Department and the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB), which would provide funding for training in response to terrorism and increased enforcement of underage drinking laws.
The PLCB program would target large parties and providers of alcohol to minors, who often end up in the hospital or commit thefts, sexual assaults and vandalism after leaving the parties, King said.
The two 18-month overtime programs would require the creation of a new coordinator position to oversee them, King said. The job would be filled by a sergeant, and no new officers would need to be hired, he added.
King said a new officer was hired January of this year in anticipation of at least one position opening up due to an existing officer's retirement.
However, no one retired, and the borough was forced to pay the salaries of 62 officers instead of the 61 in the 2003, he added
King said he is recommending that council include the 62nd position, which would be paid for mostly by the grants, in this year's budget.
Council member Jim Meyer said that to cut future costs, the borough should not hire a new officer for any position that is vacated next year in order to bring the total back down to 61. He said the number of officers rarely goes down from year to year, and council needs to be careful of hiring officers they do not need.
"If we approve this 62 on the books, we will have 62 until there's 63," Meyer said.
Council member Janet Knauer said the police department should turn down the grant if it means having to pull even one officer away from existing duties to perform a coordinating task.
However, council member Cathy Dauler said federal homeland security mandates on training are hard to fulfill, and the police need all the funding they can get.
Council member Elizabeth Goreham added that nuisance complaints are up in neighborhoods surrounding downtown as a result of large parties and underage drinking.
The other issue council remains split over is whether to spend about $30,000 hiring a receptionist to answer phone calls and walk-in questions from 5:30 to 10 p.m.
Council member Jean McManis said many residents requested this to avoid having to go through 911 to get questions answered, and it needs to be done.
Meyer said he was against creating the position and others remained undecided.
Council will debate the budget once more at a work session Friday at noon before voting on it Monday.
