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Police present steady budget, restore community‑policing unit; MIS flags rising software costs
Summary
Police Chief Cody Powell said departmental spending is generally steady, noted staffing strains from retirements and training, and reported community‑policing is back to four officers; MIS manager Peter Rasp said contract and website costs rose and the department plans a townwide work‑order program.
Police Chief Cody Powell and Captain Dan Valentine told the Greenburgh Town Board the police operating budget is broadly in line with prior years but staff shortages and retirements remain a planning challenge.
Powell said the department must plan to maintain maximum staffing despite retirements and training lags and cautioned against simple conversions from full‑time to part‑time officers because of existing county HR hiring practices and collective‑bargaining implications. "There are legal considerations that we really need to think about," he told the board.
Powell said community policing has returned to a four‑officer unit and listed recent public events where officers engaged with residents; the department also purchased electric bicycles for patrol use. Capital requests are limited to routine vehicle replacements and a vehicle/kit for the canine unit; staff said some costs are offset by grants that the department continues to pursue.
MIS/IT Manager Peter Rasp told the board service‑contract inflation is the main pressure for his budget. He cited a $12,000 increase from the town website vendor (CivicPlus) and said switching vendors can trigger higher transition costs that offset nominal savings. Rasp said MIS is implementing a work‑order system for DPW, to be expanded townwide, and plans a larger time/accounting project for early 2025.
Board members questioned anomalies in training and equipment spend lines; staff replied that roughly $35,000 in open purchase orders likely accounts for the gap between year‑to‑date actuals and projections.
No capital votes or final budget approvals occurred during the session; presenters said some figures remain subject to collective‑bargaining outcomes and open purchase orders.
