News

Stalemate between city and county

By Scott Wagar

11/22/2011

On Tuesday evening, the county and city police committees met to discuss the differences the city and county are having in their police contract. The discussion lasted for an hour and a half, but in the end, the two sides walked away from the table without coming to an agreement.

The primary topic of discussion was how much each party should pay for their share of the contract. The county wants the city to pay what the county is paying for their share of the police contract, $236,000, but the city stated they will not go past $215,000.

The city police committee’s (made up of Troy Marsden, Brad Gangl and Jeff Hall) argument with the county is that the city pays more for the police contract than the county does. Gangl pointed out that the total amount for the city’s share of the contract equals $478,387, which is funded through the city’s property tax at a cost of $263,387, along with additional funding for the city portion of the city-county contract, which cost $215,000.

Gangl added the city also pays its share of county taxes, too, which adds to the city’s payment of the contract.  

“What you don’t take into account is what the citizens of Bottineau pay in property tax already for the county and sheriff’s department. If you look at the additional $215,000 the city residents pay you, I think you are asking a lot of them,” Gangl said. “And, if you add the total amount of what the city is paying for the sheriff’s budget it would be 62 percent.”

Besides the $478,387 that Gangl said the city of Bottineau pays for the police contract, he also stated that the county contributes $262,471, Westhope pays $15,000 and the remainder of the rural cities’ pay $10,000 for the city-county police contract, a total of $287,000, which is well below what the city pays. 

Gangl also said that Bottineau should only have to pay the same amount of money the city of Westhope does for police protection, which is a straight fee of $15,000 per sheriff department officer.

“I think Bottineau should pay the same as Westhope,” he said. “That would mean the city of Bottineau would pay $60,000 for the contract. All I am trying to do is to make the contract a little fairer for Bottineau’s residents.”

The county’s police committee (made up of Jeff Beyer and Dan Marquardt) completely disagreed with Gangl’s budget number, and stated the county’s budget showed that the county pays more for policing in the contract than the city does.

According to Lisa Herbel, Bottineau County’s auditor, the city this year (2011) levied $222,000 in city taxes for the police contract, with an additional $25,309 in the city of Bottineau’s share of county taxes.

With the city portion of the 2012 city-county budget being $215,000, the county feels the money the city is spending is far less than the monetary figures the city gave the county on Tuesday evening.

The county also stated the city pays the salary of four deputies that work in the city, along with expenses for such items as benefits, police uniforms and fuel. The county pointed out, too, that the county pays the salary and benefits of the sheriff, the remainder of the county deputies, and other such items as office and jail space, prisoners’ medical expenses, insurance and meals within the jail system.

The county added that last year alone after the city reimbursed the counties on the city’s bills to the county, but the county had to cover $50,000 of the city’s reimbursement with their own money.

To prove the county pays for extra expenses, the county representatives stated they are in the process of purchasing vests for all the deputies in the county (including Bottineau’s deputies), which is quite expenses. They reminded the city police committee that the county had asked for assistance in the purchase of the vests, but the council had turned the commissioners down, leaving the county to purchase the vests.

According to Bottineau’s city auditor, Penny Nostdahl, her police figures for the city’s police fund for the budget are different from the city police committee’s figures. Nostdahl stated that in the 2012 city budget, the city tax payers will levy $210,000 for the police contract. The remaining $5,000 will come from police fines that will be collected by the police department.

Nostdahl, who has been the city auditor for 14 years and has successfully conducted the city budget and police funding in those years, added that the city’s property owners pay 12 percent of their taxes for policing, which when broken down, 9 percent goes to the city fund and 3 percent goes to the county’s fund.

Gangl disagrees with Nostdahl’s figures.

“Fifty-seven percent of the entire city property tax received by the city goes to the county police budget,” Gangl said. “The city does not have a separate police fund, but we do have a police reserve fund, which currently has $42,123 in it. We do not have monies going into that account currently, so if that money is spent we would have to find a way to replenish it.”

When it came to paying the same fees as Westhope, Beyer and Marquardt stated that it was unfair of the city’s police committee to compare Westhope to Bottineau, because Bottineau has four full time deputies that canvass the city 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days out of the year. They additionally stated that Westhope, which is a much smaller community, had only one deputy and his services were not around the clock like they were in Bottineau.

The representatives also brought up the $25,000 the city is refusing to pay in dispatcher fees, dropping their portion of the 2012 contract from $236,000 to $215,000. Gangl stated that the city removed the dispatcher fees from their budget because the city residents’ already pays 911 calls through their phone bills.

The county stated that wasn’t correct either, and pointed out that the 911 calls only pay 25 percent of the cost of dispatcher fees throughout the county, while the county pays 50 percent and the city pays 25 percent. With the city not paying for their share of the dispatch fees, the county will now be responsible for the city’s portion of the dispatcher fees.

Troy Marsden, who chairs the police committee for the city, stated that the price of the contract came up because about 10 years ago the city was paying around $160,000 a year for its share of the contract, and the council has been taken back at the large increase of their payments to the county. Beyer and Marquardt reminded Marsden that the cost of living has increased significantly, which they have no control over.

Gangl added that city fines from violations were down 60 percent this year and he believed that the change in number wasn’t about crimes going down. He added that city receives numerous complaints about individuals speeding in town, making left hand turns and a noise in the city.

Sheriff Steve Watson and his chief deputy, Matt Schimetz, stated that the police cannot be everywhere at one time, and reminded the police committee that the majority of all major crimes in the city have been solved.

As the two sides discussed the budget back and forth without a conclusion, the issue of Bottineau establishing their own police department came to the table. Marquardt informed the council that if the city decided to start their own city police force, it would cost the city’s taxpayers much more money than what the city is paying for policing at the present moment with the county, which Gangl agreed would happened.

In the end, the city and county police committees could not come to an agreement with setting a price for the share cost of the police budget, which caused Beyer and Marquardt not to mixed words with the city.

“I think we are offering a very good service, I think we are doing it at a fair price of $236,000, and I honestly don’t think you could do it any better by yourself,” Beyer said. “I feel if you really listen to our constituents I think they honestly feel they are getting a good deal. I don’t think anybody would complain, or have a problem if you sign the contract with us.” 

“The commissioners are set at $236,000 for the city to pay in their part of budget,” Marquardt said. “If the city doesn’t agree with that, you just might have to set up your own police force. We don’t want to see that happen, but it could come to that.”

Gangl stated that it was not the city police committee’s intention of starting their own police force, only to make sure that city is treated fairly in paying their portion of the police contract.

Gangl added he was not pleased with how the meeting ended.

“I was very disappointed the county commissioners would not negotiate on the $236,000,” Gangl said. “I thought the rest of our issues could have been resolved with more communication with the county and sheriff’s department.”

The date for the next city-county police contract meeting has not been set.