Newspaper Columns

The following column appeared in the February 13, 2008 issues of Webster Messenger Post and Webster Herald

     Lee Iacocca once said - “If I have learned one thing it’s this: You don’t get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for someone else to take action”.
     That’s precisely why I’m writing this essay. It’s all about our town taxes and the high cost of police protection.
     You know, my wife and I have lived in Webster since 1960 and have raised a family of 3 children in this wonderful town. I love our community and have been involved in many local worthwhile projects around town so that I didn’t just take, I also put back. I retired from Kodak in 1986.
     Recently I have become very concerned about escalating costs, taxes and wasteful government spending. I have never put too much importance on the term “fixed income” until the last few years when I began to feel the pinch that constantly increasing taxes and living costs were putting on my budget. But this particular issue is about more than just the effect these costs are having on me. I think about people around me who are living on far less than I am, and others who are losing their jobs & benefits due to corporate downsizing. How must this feel to them? Where is all this “staying the course” and complacency leading us? An even bigger question is - what can the common person do to resolve these significant problems?
     So, during this past year, I have spent more than 1500 hours gathering facts and data to help me understand - What is the true cause of the high costs of police protection in our town? I’d like to present some of the facts that have astounded me and I suspect they will trouble you also.

• About 47% ($5.4M or $100,000 per week) of our 2008 town taxes will be spent to support one department of the Town of Webster - the Webster Police Dept.

• Of the 25 highest paid Town of Webster employees for 2006 – 18 are police officers.

• Webster’s Town Supervisor is 14th on this list at $78,000 with 11 police officers ahead of him.

• The highest paid Town of Webster employee is WPD Sergeant with a salary, including overtime and benefits of $148,000.

• The average wage for Webster’s police officers in 2008 will be $87,000.

• In 2008 Webster taxpayers will pay $1,779,000 in benefit costs for current & retired employees of the Webster Police Department.

• A Webster police officer is able to retire after 20 years service at 50% of his salary and an extremely generous healthcare benefits package.

• Budget for WPD overtime in 2007 was $300,000 – 14% of wages.

• The current binding arbitration process will escalate WPD costs by a yet to be determined amount, but will exceed $250,000.

• We are paying high costs for local policing while also helping to pay for road patrol costs of 13 other towns within Monroe County.

     Folks, let’s face it, the home town feel of Webster policing is long gone – 17 of the 33 WPD officers live outside of Webster, and 10 of the 17 live outside of Monroe County (including our Chief who lives in Ontario County). If the WPD feels that local policing is appropriate for us, why do 11 of them live in towns that do not have their own police force?

     This data provides only some of the answers to why our local policing costs are so high. I would hope that these facts & figures would send a red flag to our town government and point out the fact that we can no longer afford a costly independent police force – we need their strong leadership in this matter.

     In my year–long search for facts, I have found nothing that justifies why Webster residents should be spending $5.4 M dollars more than is necessary to obtain high quality police protection.

     Costs in the WPD have evolved to very high levels over a period of years of ever increasing police union wage & benefit demands – they are significantly higher than the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department who is represented by a different union. Is there any motivation for a union contract negotiator to worry about what is fair and equitable to our other valued town employees, or for that matter, the residents of Webster? Private industry has had to consolidate services and economize in order to remain viable in today’s marketplace – We in Webster need to recognize this fact and act accordingly.

     For anyone who wants details that support these statements, our “grassroots” committee - Affordable Policing of Webster - has created a website apow.org that will be up and running on February 20, 2008. It will contain many more details than we could possibly bring you by using the newspaper essay format. Check it frequently for updates and future plans of our committee.

     Look right here next week for a follow-up essay in which we will present additional information & data that compares services in Webster to our neighbors in Penfield. Our goal, over the next few months, is to present a complete package of information that will allow every resident to make the fully informed decision about whether maintaining a costly local police force is the correct decision for Webster.

Thanks for your interest,

Gerry Moldenhauer
1395 Schlegel Rd.

The following column appeared in the February 20, 2008 issues of
the Webster Webster Herald

Affordable Policing of Webster
Guest Essay Part 2

I’d like to begin this week’s essay by clearing up 2 misconceptions that apparently exist in the minds of some residents. There is a misunderstanding about the real goal of our “Affordable Policing of Webster” committee.

The goals of our committee are now, and have always been, the following:

1 - Accurately identify the true cause of the high costs of our police protection in Webster.
2 - Look at appropriate options and determine costs.
3 - Present the facts to Webster residents.
4 - Have the "will of the people" decide their policing preference at a referendum in the privacy of a voting booth.

The second misunderstanding relates to how policing services would be provided, if we voted to discontinue WPD services in favor of a Monroe County Sheriff plan. We would not lose the 24/7 community police coverage we are presently accustomed to. The feeling that all 911 calls for service would originate from the Zone “A” Substation on Linden Ave are simply incorrect. And finally, response times to 911 calls for service are unlikely to increase at all, because the patrol deputy’s office is their car, and not located in a building somewhere in town.

At an appropriate time, when requested, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office will study our policing needs and propose a plan. The plan would then be presented to our Town government for approval. Although I obviously can’t predict, or speak for the Sheriff, but expect the plan would look similar to the one used in neighboring Penfield. There they have 3 road patrol deputies assigned to each shift around the clock. Supporting the road patrol efforts are a staff of Investigators and Traffic Enforcement Officers. The supervisory structure includes a Zone Captain, Lieutenants, Platoon Sergeants and Criminal Investigative support that provide for the entire substation. Zone “A” Substation currently polices the towns of Pittsford, Perinton and Penfield, with each town having three patrol deputies per shift, with one additional Deputy added for the zone during their busiest third platoon.

It would seem that deputies serving the northern part of Penfield and the Empire Blvd area would be the logical emergency backups for the deputies serving Webster. Other specialized services would be provided to Webster on an as needed basis from an extensive group of personnel, available from throughout the Monroe County Sheriff system.

All Monroe County taxpayers pay for an item called “Public Safety Mandates” in our County tax bill. It’s much like the public school system. Everyone pays for public schools, but if you prefer to send your children to private or parochial schools you pay the extra costs. It is estimated that $17,500,000 of those mandated funds, provide for the operation of the Sheriff’s road patrol. There are 13 Towns who do not have their own police departments and rely entirely on the Monroe County Sheriff’s for their policing needs.

So, I called the Supervisors of 5 of the larger towns in the county and asked them about their satisfaction with the services they receive from the MCSO. In every case I learned that they were extremely pleased and were very generous with their praise for the availability and responsiveness of the Sheriff’s Office.

It also seemed appropriate to compare our neighboring Town of Penfield with Webster, which has many similarities, with one major difference being that Webster is policed by its own local police force and Penfield is policed by the Monroe County Sheriff.

	Webster	Penfield
Population:	40,000	35,500
Total Assessed Valuation:	$2.64B	$2.69B
Tax Rates / K Assessment	$4.33/K	$2.99/K
Town Area:	34 sq. miles	37.5 sq. miles
2006 Part 1 and Part 2 Crimes:*	1447	1378
Crime Clearance Rates	N/A	53%
Police Cost ($160.5K Assessment)	$607	$287
WPD vs Sheriff wage rates	Future Update

* A breakdown of Part 1 and Part 2 crimes can be found on our website
www.apow.org.

A perception has been created here in Webster that we would lose the “home town feel” and that that the local police department performs better because they know the town “hot spots” and repeat offenders. Consider these facts and decide for yourself:

On the other hand

It is important to note that in accordance with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Charter, policing for Webster must be provided, if we request it. It’s also important to realize that the along with their road patrol deputies, the MCSO provides a variety of specialized services that all of us in the county use. The costs of all of these services are already included in your county taxes. Some of the services available to us are, Airport Security, Monroe County Jail, Monroe County Court System, Major Crimes Unit, Fire Investigations Unit, Bomb Squad, White Collar Crime Unit, Technical Services & Forensics Lab, Financial Crimes Unit, Polygraph Unit, Narcotics Enforcement Team, and SWAT Team, Canine Corps, The Mounted Unit, and a wide variety of community programs, to mention a few. Let me restate - you are already paying for these services in your present county taxes

In Summary
After more than a year of researching this topic, Yes, I have come to a conclusion about how this issue should be resolved. But in a Democracy, it is really all about how we as a community decide to deal with it. We can’t afford paying for two police departments, especially when the cost of ours seems to be out of control and spending 47% or $5,400,000 of our tax dollars to support their activities. We are perpetuating escalating wages, healthcare and retirement benefits that far exceed anything that you and I are eligible for. And incidentally, our WPD costs, are significantly more than the Monroe County Sheriff’s compensation package.

A 2006 report on our most serious crime’s, indicates that Webster has a level 5% higher than Penfield. We have a policing package that costs us more than twice the amount paid in Penfield. Our town tax rate that is 45% higher than Penfield. Don’t these numbers concern you? Are we really getting good value for our Webster tax dollar?

It looks to me, that a perfectly acceptable, high quality policing option is available to Webster, at a cost which is $5,400,000 less than we are currently paying. You will have to draw your own conclusions about that and other questions in order to make an informed decision. Please visit our website at www.apow.org which goes on line today. There you will find updated information that will help you decide, in this day and time of financial crisis, whether or not Webster should be in the policing business at all !

Thanks for spending the time to read this essay. I hope you find this data, and our website to be worthwhile and informative.

Gerry Moldenhauer
1395 Schlegel Rd.