A screen shot from Wednesday’s meeting of the Derby Board of Apportionment Taxation.
DERBY — The Derby Police Department is asking for a small increase to its operating budget, Derby Police Chief Gerald D. Narowski told the tax board Wednesday.
The department is seeking for $3,955,057 for 2020 – 2021. That’s a 1.65 percent increase over the current budget.
The increase includes a 2 percent raise for police officers. That comes from a contract that was approved last year.
The department is not expanding its personnel nor implementing new programs.
In fact, Narowski pointed out some small decreases within his budget. The department is saving about $350 by hiring a new company to service the heating and air conditioning system. The budget line item for telephone service is decreasing from $1,750 currently to $950 next year.
The police chief shared this slide showing approved PD budgets over the years.
However, the police department is planning to spend more money on Axel, its police dog who sniffs out drugs and alleged bad guys.
The dog’s line item is going from $2,000 to $3,000, assuming the police department budget is adopted as is.
Derby tax board chairwoman Judy Szewczyk asked why the dog needed extra cash.
“Our dog is a prima-donna, and … it needs fresh food, versus our old dog, who used to eat dry food,” Narowski said. Deputy Chief Scott Todd also noted there’s some increases for training-related canine equipment, too.
Contributed Photo
Axel.
The Derby Police Department has 34 regular officers, and five civilian employees (a custodian, an executive assistant, and three part-time records clerks).
The department is currently down three officers — one officer recently retired, one officer is out on family medical leave, and one officer is out on disability.
“I think it’s a very thoughtful budget,” Szewczyk said after the chief’s budget presentation.
Wednesday’s tax board meeting was the first meeting of the board since COVID-19 started spreading in Connecticut. The board met without a hitch using the Zoom video conferencing platform.
Derby is coming off a very bad budget year, one that saw a tax increase and, separately, the realization that the city had double-counted grant money, causing a hole in the budget. The mistake triggered the city to create a “recovery” plan that included selling assets and refinancing debt.
The tax board will start meeting twice a week until about the second week of June to come up with a budget for the 2020 – 2021 budget year.
The audio from the May 20 meeting is embedded below:
The next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 26. It is a very important meeting, because Derby Public Schools Superintendent Matthew Conway will be presenting the school district’s proposed budget to the tax board.
Derby schools have not received an increase from the city in two years. This year the school district is asking for an increase of about $1 million, which represents a 5.9 percent increase over the school budget currently in place.
