The cost to keep cops on Clarkston streets is estimated to rise some 12.25 percent this year, but much of the increase is due to a huge hike in Oakland County’s dispatch fees.
‘The dispatch is up to $14,670 per year,? said City Manager Dennis Ritter. ‘That’s doubled from 2008-2009, and before the contract is over we expect it to be up to about $21,000.?
Clarkston police are dispatched by Oakland County when someone within the city calls 911 for police.
That happens ‘every couple of days,? LaCroix said.
When someone within the city calls 911 for a fire or medical emergency’one or two calls a week, LaCroix said’the call is dispatched to the Independence Township Fire Department, with whom the city contracts for fire and emergency medical service.
The amended 2008-2009 police expenses stood at $256,140; the proposed 2009-2010 police department budget of $287,515 was approved by council Monday.
While that’s an increase of $31,375’or 12.25 percent’a large portion of the hike is explained by Oakland County dispatch services, which increased dramatically when the contract was renegotiated a few years ago.
‘I wasn’t around when the contract was originally signed,? LaCroix said. ‘But it’s gone from a few hundred dollars a month to thousands of dollars a month in the two years I’ve been here.?
But, he continued, there are no other viable alternatives.
‘It’s been asked can we do without it, and the bottom line is probably no,? LaCroix said. ‘It would cost a fortune to have our own dispatch, way more than we could ever afford. There is no alternative this year or any year that I know of, unless we can renegotiate.?