DALTON, Mass. — The Finance Committee last week voted against the Police Department budget, citing concerns with anticipated financial constraints.

 

The department proposed a budget of $1,679,488, a $144,232 or 9.39 percent, increase mainly caused by salary increases. 

 

When a motion on a budget fails, it goes back to the department, town manager, and the Select Board to see what can be done to rectify the reason for the failure, Finance Committee Chair William Drosehn said. 

 

The salary budget has an increase of $139,002, or 10.30 percent. 

 

"This is year one of a contractual year, and that's why there's a substantial jump, and there won't be a jump the next two years in a contract. Every first year of a contract is a jump based on salary increase," Police Chief Deanna Strout said. 

 

Committee member Thomas Irwin criticized the negotiations, stating that he believed Town Manager Thomas Hutcheson did not take into account the financial constraints facing the town. 

 

Considering the budgets that have been deliberated on and the available projections the overall percent increase for fiscal year 2026 is anticipated to be 5.41 percent, said Town Accountant Sandra Albano.

 

Three years ago, the town had an excess levy capacity of $1.2 million. However, because of increases such as health insurance, school costs, and wages, the town has just under $130,000 in excess levy capacity, Drosehn said in a follow-up. 

 

The vocational education budget is not included in these projections, which Albano said she believes would bring the town to $200,000 under the levy limit.  

 

Albano said she would feel comfortable being $400,000 or $500,000 under the levy limit as a minimum. 

 

"This is just the budgets. It's nothing else because the other projects are funded by different monies," she clarified. 

 

It was emphasized during the Police Department presentation that the cushion the town has had between spending and the levy limit is dwindling. 

 

"With this number being so low, our fiscal 2027 budget will be looking at some cuts to stay under the levy limit. There are methods for override but these generally do not work in Massachusetts," Drosehn said in a follow-up. 

 

Strout defended Hutcheson's efforts during the negotiation process, saying he was playing the long game. 

 

"Hutcheson knows my feelings very strongly on this. Our police officers should not be making less than the Hinsdale Police Department or the Becket Police Department, or we will lose them. Pittsfield PD just went up 25 percent, so we have to maintain normal pay scales with the departments around us because when we lose [officers], it's 18 months to replace them and a whole lot of money," she said. 

 

"So, we do want to focus on training and retention one way or another. I will throw my thanks to our town manager for understanding that concept very well. It's far more expensive to replace them and lose their value and lose their knowledge in training in our community than it is to give them a little bit of a bump to match the surrounding communities around us." 

 

Hutcheson said the town went through several rounds of negotiation, and the final figure that department staff accepted was still less than what they were asking for. 

 

During the budget presentation that lasted about an hour, Strout went into detail about every aspect of the budget, showing where they were able to make cuts and justifying the needed to increases. 

 

There was a requested increase of $5,230, or 2.81 percent, in the department's expenses budget. 

 

This year, $2,700 was budgeted to cover the cost of a Blue Voice app, which can be reimbursed through a grant from its insurance company. 

 

"The Blue Voice app is an app we all have on our work phones, and you can look up any Massachusetts General law, our town bylaws are in there, any restraining orders, any no trespass orders, and any questions an officer has," Strout said. 

 

"So, say they're on a call. They're not quite sure of an element of a law, and they want to look that up. They just push the button, and they ask it a question, and it immediately gives all the Mass General Laws and all the elements to that law. It's phenomenal." 

 

The best part is the insurance company, Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association, loves it and reimburses the cost with a grant, Strout said. 

 

Another increase was in the department's cellular service line item to cover the cost of adding a phone for each sergeant and full-time employee. 

 

Strout explained that every full-time officer now needs a dedicated work phone to prevent their personal phone data from being subpoenaed in court. 

 

"What's happening is, anytime you use your personal phone to do with work, the defense attorneys are taking [officers'] phones and downloading them into court and I don't know anybody anywhere that would want their personal phone downloaded into court when it's work related," the chief said.

 

"So they now have designated work phones that they have to use. And, unfortunately, many police departments, Lenox, Pittsfield, all of them are going to this as well, because of this exact reason. We need to protect them from their personal data being put out into court." 

 

The annual software support/instrument meteorological conditions line item increases by $2,681, bringing it to $22,631. 

 

The cause of this increased was for the addition of Livescan software, which police agencies are required to have. The department was able to obtain the $118,000 Live Scan machine for free thanks to a grant. 

 

There was a $958 increase in Livescan's annual maintenance agreement, bringing it to $3,300. 

 

The department also trimmed areas of the budget by making decreases in a few line items. 

 

Strout said they did not include funding for the Assessment Center, cutting $3,500 from the budget. 

 

"I'm feeling pretty confident that my three sergeants aren't going anywhere. So I didn't feel we needed to budget for that. If we need it, then we'll have to ask for it, but I would rather not waste the money in a budget that we don't need," Strout said. 

 

The department also made decreases, including $250 in health club membership fees, $200 in kennel costs, $75 in prisoner meals, $500 in equipment repair, $500 in radio service, $1,000 in medical pre-employment costs, academy requirement costs, and psychological screening. 

 

The department was able to deduct $1,000 from its "other supplies" line item, bringing it from $10,000 to $9,000 because it no longer has to pay for Narcan. 

 

The department did not include funding for the K9 software, body-worn camera audit, and field training officer software, which also cut the expenses budget by $2,040.