Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Joint Police Agreement topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Village representatives warn joint police agreement would raise village budget by roughly $500,000
Summary
Committee members finalized language on a draft joint police department agreement and voted to forward it to elected officials after village representatives said the arrangement would raise the village budget by about $500,000 (more than 10%) and may require a referendum.
The Town of Waterford & Village of Waterford Joint Police Committee reviewed the March 13, 2026 draft of a proposed joint police department agreement and voted to forward the final draft to each municipality's elected leadership for formal consideration. A motion to submit the draft was moved by Pat, seconded by Ric Rens and carried unanimously.
Village representatives told the committee that "the joint police agreement would represent over a 10 percent increase to the village budget, approximately $500,000 additional cost." They said the village is exploring combining police services with fire and EMS and likely would need a referendum to approve such a significant budget increase. Committee members generally supported exploring expanded shared services and discussed potential state funding to offset costs. Attorney Tony noted a remaining technical edit: add detailed language about the Wisconsin statutory procedure for terminating the agreement (Section 5, page 67). The committee said its work on agreement language is complete and responsibility now transfers to elected officials for the next steps.
