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BOARD OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS FOR THE
OLD BROOKVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT
5701 NORTHERN BOULEVARD • OLD BROOKVILLE, NEW YORK 11545
SERVING THE VILLAGES OF
OLD BROOKVILLE • BROOKVILLE • UPPER BROOKVILLE • MATINECOCK • MILL NECK • COVE NECK
June 18, 2011

Dear Resident,

      The departure of Muttontown from the Old Brookville Police Department has reduced the area, population and number of households served by roundly 30%. More importantly, it has reduced the income available to support the department by over 25%. Notwithstanding our admiration for the department and its personnel, our residents cannot be put in the position of subsidizing Muttontown's leaving.

      About 90% of the expenses of the department relate to personnel. Salaries, benefits and retirement costs average over $250,000 per officer, not including future health care expense liability of over $400,000 per active and retired officer.

      While we have worked closely with management to down size with the least bad effects, we are constrained by Civil Service and Union agreements as to the steps we can take.

      We are disappointed at the confrontational attitude taken by the Union (the PBA), which despite assurances to us of cooperation, negotiation and assistance continues to issue inflammatory letters full of misstatements of fact while accusing your Mayors and Trustees of bad faith.

      The shrinkage in the Department is being accomplished mainly by attrition, retirements and resignations, and should result in continuation of the high level of service you have all come to expect. Attached is a Facts Sheet that provides detailed information on various aspects of our police services. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,




FACTS SHEET
OLD BROOKVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT
June 18, 2011
FACT #1:
On March 25, 2011, after 62 years, the Village of Muttontown elected to opt out of the OBPD. The approved OBPD operating budget for the upcoming 2011/2012 year (June 1 - May 31) was $13, 321,204 which left a $3,059,608 shortfall caused by Muttontown’s departure. Needless to say, the loss of 26% of the OBPD operating revenue left the remaining six villages not only with less money but also with a need for fewer officers because of the reduced coverage area.

FACT #2:
In our efforts to do the best job possible, we consulted with two outside independent and objective police consultants. It was their opinion that the reduction of the police force to 18 police officers, plus six sergeants, six police communications operators and two typist clerks would provide the residents of the six Villages with an equivalent level of police protection services. The restructured police force in place as of June 1, 2011 will provide for a four-car patrol service (three police officer patrol cars plus one sergeant’s car) for the six Villages as compared to the previous five police officer patrol cars plus one sergeant’s car when Muttontown was included in the service area. (It is important to note that Muttontown had accounted for approximately 25% of the OBPD jurisdiction and 30% of our population.) The OBPD will continue to have its own dispatch service as before with the OBPD HQ desk manned on a 24/7 basis.

FACT #3:
Each resident pays an annual Headquarters Tax directly to Nassau County. In part, the purpose of that tax is to pay for Nassau County detectives – whether or not we use them. In the past we had the luxury of having our own detectives pursue investigations in cooperation with larger departments, but in these severe economic times, difficult decisions had to be made and we stand by our decision that our first priority would be to use available manpower to patrol our Villages on a daily basis. If the available funding can be found in the future, Detective service would be reconsidered at that time. However until then, the most important element that our own Chief of Police believes and supports and which was confirmed by our police consultants is that the first line of protection and the one that best serves our residents is the officer in the patrol car riding through your neighborhood. In the restructuring, we did not terminate detectives – they are continuing their work as uniformed officers or sergeants.

FACT #4:
The PBA was unwilling to make any concessions of a meaningful nature which would have avoided or minimized any of the layoffs. Our labor attorney suggested looking at the calculation of termination pay, health insurance benefits and the 5% raise effective June 1, 2011 which was negotiated almost five years ago, well before the current fiscal morass facing all municipalities. The union was not willing to grant any concessions with respect to the same for the upcoming year. The only concession the union was willing to offer was to defer one paycheck which would mean all officers would get paid 25 of 26 paychecks, and when the officer left the force, he or she would get that paycheck at their then rate of pay. In effect, it is a savings account for the officers, which continues to grow as their salaries increase. Further, they conditioned this offer on no layoffs. Deferring one paycheck would result in a short-term savings of approximately $150,000.00, while no layoffs would have cost well over a million dollars, hardly something we could have agreed to. The PBA finally offered to defer one paycheck and to give up one paycheck next year. The savings this final offer would generate was only a small percentage of what it would take to avoid layoffs.

FACT #5:
We have used our best effort to minimize the restructuring. Between transfers to other Departments and recent and pending retirements, all but two police officers are now employed.