LCSD Communications Budget Up

by AJ de Saint Phalle

HYDE PARK - The Lamoille County Sheriff's Advisory Board met Thursday,
November 18 to consider the Sheriff's 2005-2006 communications budget
proposal. The anticipated budget, which reflects a 24.6% increase over
the current one, was unanimously endorsed for presentation to the voters
at next year's Town Meetings.
Although every selectperson on each of the 10 towns served was invited,
only four actually attended the hour long meeting: Brian Greenia,
Morristown; Eric Osgood, Johnson; Hugh Tallman and Bob Grainger,
Belvidere; Ken Harvey, Hyde Park. No selectpersons from Cambridge, Eden,
Elmore, Stowe, Waterville and Wolcott attended. When asked about the low
turnout, Sheriff Roger Marcoux said that in his opinion it was simply an
indication of how non-contentious the response has been to the unusually
large increase. He went on to say, "My plan is to have as many public
forums as possible and then see how the voters respond at Town Meeting."
The communications budget covers the costs of running the 10 town
dispatch center for public safety, including fire, rescue and police.
Although it includes line items for such things as radio tower rentals,
including signal repeaters and storage space, far and away the largest
slice of the pie is for salaries and benefits for the people who answer
the over 5,000 calls to 911, and who dispatch the nearly 12,000 fire,
rescue and police responses which occur each year.
Marcoux revealed that 2004 had proven to be a very difficult year,
saying that he had lost nine employees so far, including four fulltime
dispatchers, one parttime dispatcher, one full-time patrol officer and
three parttime patrol officers. Marcoux said, "There are three reason
they're leaving: low salary, no retirement to speak of, and night shifts
without any differential."
At a starting wage of $10 per hour, LCSD dispatchers are currently
earning nearly 50% less than Vermont State Police dispatchers who start
at $14.73 per hour. LCSD also falls short when it comes to retirement
benefits. Marcoux noted that he is about to lose two more dispatchers if
they are accepted to positions in the Morristown Police Department.
Asked what will happen if the budget is not passed at Town Meeting,
Marcoux said, "We might have to drop out of the 24 hour service and turn
that over to the state police. Bottom line, if I don't have the
employees, I can't keep going."
He went on to say that, "Employees here have always been the strength,
and that's why people from around here want their own dispatchers
because these people know the firemen, they know the roads. They
recognize the value of that."
Speaking to the problem of employee retention, Brian Greenia said, "We
had the same issues in Morrisville about eight years ago. We decided we
could not afford to be the training ground. We just, salary-wise,
bellied up to the bar, if you will and met it... Turnover is not
something you want in a police department. It takes a long time to
train. Since we've done that the quality of our agency has actually
improved."
Marcoux summed up the dilemma he faces, saying, "What's killing us now
is that all the applications are from people with absolutely no
experience and you finally get them trained after a year and a half, and
then they leave. It's not only hard on us in the front office, it's hard
on the other dispatchers who are getting burned out. We're just to the
point in time where we've got to either make the jump or realize that
eventually we're going to have to get out of the business. We've got to
pay these folks what they can make going to any other department."
The following numbers reveal each of the affected town's current and
proposed Lamoille County Sheriff's Deparment Communications Budget
Assessments.
Town Name: '04-05/'05-06
Belvidere: $5,211 / $6,220
Cambridge: $70,223 / $86,838
Eden: $19,076 / $23,646
Elmore: $17,838 / $22,261
Hyde Park: $47,699 / $59,238
Johnson: $48,956 / $60,833
Morrist'n: $95,482 / $118,073
Stowe: $166,639/$210,446
Waterville: $11,534/$14,217
Wolcott: $23,759/$29,166