Manager Wants
Police Force
To Go Townwide
By M. D. Drysdale

Randolph can’t afford to pay its police officers the going rate, because only part of Randolph—the Police District—is footing the bill. For this and other reasons, Randolph would do better to move to a town-wide police force.

That was the message the selectboard received from Town Manager Peter Butterfield at its meeting Tuesday at RTCC.

Butterfield led off the discussion with a disclosure that a second Randolph patrolman will be leaving the force to command a higher salary elsewhere. Chris Alting, who has been on the force a bit more than two years, has taken a job with the Northfield police force, he said.

In February, a fourth-year officer, Michael Welch, was hired away to become state deputy for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, also at a higher salary.

"Chris is the second in a row," said Butterfield. "It shook me up a little bit."

His research has since shown that Randolph police are paid about $2 an hour less than most municipal police in Vermont, with the differential growing even wider for experienced officers.

He believes that an important reason that Northfield can afford to pay its police officers more is because in Northfield the police serve the whole town—and are paid by a tax on all properties in town.

In Randolph, by contrast, the police serve mostly the Police District, with occasional forays outside the village on calls to assist the state police or county sheriffs. More importantly, the police budget is financed only by people and businesses within the Police District—roughly one third of the town’s grand list, Butterfield said.

With only one third of the town’s taxing capacity supporting the police department, no wonder the salaries are low, he implied.

Unenthusiastic

The selectboard heard the recommendation with glum faces, foreseeing a highly divisive controversy if it is presented to the voters.

"It would be the largest turnout for a vote that we’ve ever had," predicted Larry Townsend. Chairman Jim Hutchinson feared a deep division between those who live in the Police District, where taxes on a $200,000 house would decrease by about $343, and those outside the district, where a similar property would pay an estimated $245 more.

"People will vote their pocketbooks," he predicted.

But Butterfield, a former selectman who has long favored a townwide police force, was undeterred.

"Decide in your heart what is best for the entire community" rather than separate parts of it, he pleaded.

The manager promised to bring to the next meeting details of how the wider coverage would benefit the town. He hoped that at the end of that next meeting, which will be Monday, June 4, the selectboard would be able to give him direction on the issue.

In an information sheet he brought to the board this week, he provided an estimate of the financial impact of extending the police department to the town.

The Department would have to add two patrolmen to the current force of seven, he said, and would have to buy one more vehicle. This would increase the overall police budget by about 20%, from $427,050 to $511,068. But that budget would be spread over the entire town, not just the village area.