With all the recent home burglaries and drug raids that have occurred in Shelton over the past couple of weeks, I feel obligated to inform the residents of our city what is going on at the Shelton Police Department.
The Laurretti Spin: Shelton has the lowest mill rate in the area.
The Truth: Shelton taxpayers are over taxed because the promised services are never delivered.
Let’s look at the Police Department: For fiscal year 2009 – 2010, you paid $6.1 million of your hard earned dollars for “police protection.” The Police Dept. turned back $911,038 in unspent funds to the City. In 2010 – 2011 out of a $6.2 million budget the Chief of Police, Joel Hurliman (a large contributor to the mayor’s campaigns) returned an astounding $1.07 million back to Lauretti’s General Fund. That is 17 percent of their budget!
How does the Police Department do that? At Lauretti’s request, the 2009 – 2010 budget included salaries for 62 police officers, but the actual number of officers working in the department was only 53 and two have left this year, bringing the current number to 51. Since the average salary of a Shelton police officer is around $60,000, you were taxed $660,000 for vacant positions. A total waste of your money.
Lauretti’s budget for 2011 – 2012 carries on the deception: 62 officers authorized; 51 on the force. Moreover two or three officers are leaving the department before year’s end. As of today the city has not even begun the required testing to replace those officers, much less, to increase the number of police officers. In the last 11 years, you’ve paid $5.2 million for phantom police services.
The crime statistics (Shelton Police Dept. website) show the impact on your lives that this misuse of tax dollars has caused.
Crime Statistics from 2006 – 2010
Burglaries: Up 45 percent
Total Arrests: Down 8.6 percent
There just aren’t enough police officers to protect you and your families property. Shelton ranks well below the national standard of 1.8 police officers per 1,000 residents. ( 40,000 residents x 1.8 officers per 1,000 = 72 police officers)
In my administration, I will add additional police officers, at NO additional cost to you, for your safety. We will pay for police cars and protection equipment from the annual budget, not bond for it. Savings created by honest budgeting can be used to reduce your taxes. This approach will be used in every city department so that you will be paying only for services you receive, and not a penny more!
The author is the Democratic candidate for mayor in Shelton.
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