At the recent Poland Village Council meeting, the final reading and approval was given to place a 1-mill renewal police levy on the November ballot. The renewal levy brings in roughly $59,000 that helps cover salaries and basic operations of the Village Police Department, according to Mayor Tim Sicafuse.
He said the levy was first passed as a 1-mill, five-year levy in 2006. Since council decided to renew it, it will collect at a lower amount than it did five years ago, due to new construction and more sharing the cost of the original levy.
Sicafuse said the levy renewal is needed to enable the village to stay competitive with neighboring departments.
“We’re a non-union force and it is tough to compete to larger unionized police departments,” he said. “We want to keep our good officers.”
One of the programs that Village officers take part in is the Drug Task Force. That involvement has helped the Poland Village Police Department financially when it comes to purchases of equipment and police vehicles. Sicafuse said with the task force, confiscated money is split.
“If they make a $100,000 drug arrest, that money is divided among the departments that played a part in the arrest,” Sicafuse said.
For Poland Village, participating in the Task Force has enabled the police department to purchase vehicles and equipment like bullet-proof vests and police weapons and amunition. He said all five police cruisers and the two Harley Davidson police motorcycles were purchased through the Village’s share of the drug arrests.
“It’s a huge way for us to purchase those items,” Sicafuse said.
He said the best part is that arrested criminal’s money is going to provide the tools for officers to make more arrests. It also means the department can update equipment without going to the voters for additional funds.
It also means, Poland Village can go for a renewal of the existing levy instead of going after a replacement or new levy.
Sicafuse said the third reading and approval of the renewal levy had to be done this month as there is an August filing deadline to be placed on the November ballot.
