Othello mulls hiring detective in 2018 budget

OTHELLO — The Othello City Council committed the city to hiring a drug detective as city council members wrestled with the city’s tight budget for 2018.

City council members at a regular meeting on Monday struggled with what to do with $133,000 out of a more than $5 million projected budget as they evaluated competing priorities — everything from a new heating and cooling system for city hall to new equipment for the Parks and Recreation Department.

“A drug detective is my absolute highest priority,” Police Chief Phil Schenck told members of the city council. “We busted heroin and meth dealers nearly every night last week.”

Schenck added that police were likely to see huge increases in drug seizures in the coming months.

However, the projected $98,000 annual cost for a drug detective would take up much of that available $133,000, leaving little for anything else the city wanted.

Some items, such as $100,000 for a new heating and cooling system for city hall and $26,000 for Gators for the Parks Department, were either moved to other funds or paid for by borrowing from other city funds, such as the Sewer Fund, which contains about $7.5 million.

Other items were simply delayed for a later date, such as $56,000 for a new car for the police chief.

“There’s a lot wrong with my car, but not $56,000 worth,” Schenck said.

However, Schenck also told council members it was important to set aside money as part of a regular replacement program for police vehicles, communications equipment, and even firearms, all of which wear out eventually.

“We had three handgun failures on the range,” Schenck said. “We’ve not seen rifle failures because we don’t shoot them as much. We had the armorers go through and replace parts.”

The city is borrowing $17,000 from other funds for new weapons for the police, and has budgeted $112,000 elsewhere for two new patrol cars.

The city is also looking to spend $46,000 to hire a new building inspector. When combined with the drug detective, that’s a commitment of $144,000 every year — $11,000 more than the city has unless it dips into the $400,000 council members want set aside as a reserve fund.

“These are continuous expenses,” said council member John Lallas. “If we take on a drug detective and a building inspector, which I really want, then it becomes harder to spend money on new vehicles every year.”

What Othello needed, Lallas said, was more revenue, something efforts to bring more homes and businesses — and more tax payments — to Othello are aiming at.

“Doing what we’re doing will probably bring that, but it will take time,” Lallas said.

The council will continue to discuss the budget at its next meeting on at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 27 The budget must be passed by midnight, Dec. 31.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.