BY RANDY GRIFFITH
PAINT — Action to disband the borough’s part-time police department and contract with neighboring Paint Township for full-time coverage will be brought for approval at tonight’s Borough Council meeting.
The three-year contract calls for the borough to pay $31,500 a year, with an option to renew. The 2009 police budget totaled $55,650.
“When you have a police force for years, it’s hard to give it up,” council President Dennis Berkey said. “The other side of the coin is: We are going to have a 24/7 police force.”
Berkey said he does not know what will happen to the four part-time Paint Borough officers, including Chief Karen Hugya.
The estimated $24,000 savings enabled the borough to complete its 2010 budget without increasing taxes, Berkey said. A final vote on the budget also is on the agenda for the meeting at 7 tonight in the municipal building at 119 Hoffman Ave.
Five years ago, there were efforts to consolidate all Windber-area police under one regional force. That plan failed due to differences in police union pension plans between Paint Township and Windber, but the two major players have continued cooperative efforts since then. Rick Skiles serves as officer-in-charge as a sergeant at Windber and as chief in Paint Township.
Paint Borough would become the third municipality patrolled under contract with Paint Township, whose officers already cover Central City and Benson boroughs. Windber police cover Scalp Level Borough under a similar agreement.
“It’s a win-win for everybody,” Skiles said of the Paint Borough-Paint Township proposal. “It will certainly put more (police) hours on the street. We will give immediate response. We have plenty of officers.”
Paint Township Supervisor Andy Tvardzik estimated the addition of Paint Borough to the township’s patrol will require two new part-time officers.
“It helps the whole operation,” Tvardzik said. “It binds things together.”
The township does not reap a profit from the contract, he stressed. Additional expenses will negate most of the new revenue.
“It’s about a push,” Tvardzik said.
The township supervisors have scheduled a special meeting at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in the municipal building at 1741 Basin Drive to consider the contract, if Paint Borough approves it today.
Paint Township’s final budget approval is scheduled for the supervisors meeting at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 21. Like the Borough Council, township supervisors were able to balance the 2010 budget without a tax increase, Tvardzik said.
