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Suamico board delays vote on Brown County police contract; camera and wage costs cited
Summary
The Suamico Village Board voted to table a proposed 2025–27 police services contract with Brown County until the village budget hearing, citing wage/fringe increases and rising body/squad camera costs that raise the village share of contract expenses.
The Suamico Village Board on Oct. 7 voted 5–0 to table action on a proposed police services contract with the Brown County Sheriff’s Office for 2025–2027, sending the item to the village's budget hearing for more detailed review.
Administrator Caker introduced the proposal and said the county’s offering would raise the village’s contract roughly 6% in 2025 with 4% increases proposed for each of the following two years. Chief Deputy Broadback and Deputy Pisani attended to answer trustees’ questions. Broadback told the board that wages and fringe benefits were the primary cost drivers and that some camera and equipment costs are now recovered through an ongoing equipment and software package rather than a one‑time subsidy.
Trustees pressed for detail on the cameras and overall contract costs. The contract includes an additional line item for body and squad cameras listed at $30,002.51 for 2025, compared with $18,004.48 in 2024; trustees were told the earlier program received subsidy support that reduced the initial village cost. Chief Deputy Broadback also explained the county’s storage, redaction and records‑management software generate recurring costs tied to cloud storage and public records requests.
Board members discussed operational staffing: Suamico is guaranteed one county patrol officer 24 hours a day, plus additional directed enforcement positions that are not backfilled. Trustees also noted the village’s share of investigative case costs has dropped (from over 10% in a previous contract calculation to about 7.94%), which reduces that portion of the bill for Suamico.
Trustee Romas moved to postpone the contract vote so trustees could examine the statistics and consider the item as part of the budget hearing; Trustee Eckert seconded. The motion passed by voice vote 5–0, and the contract will be reviewed at the village’s budget meeting.
The board did not take a final vote on the contract; no implementation date or effective contract amount was approved at this meeting.
