Cornish
The Cornish community has almost met a $37,500 goal for a new 2017 Ford Police Interceptor SUV through voluntary donations, a bit of a town tradition.
“There is a lot of history in Cornish of doing things just this way,” Police Chief Douglas Hackett said of the fundraising. “So, while it may be unique around police departments, it is extremely common in Cornish.”
Both of the fire stations in town, an addition at Cornish Elementary School, equipment purchases and other odd projects have been completely or partially funded through donations over the years, a move that has spared the town’s tax rate pennies, if not nickels and dimes.
“This way, those people that can afford to make a donation do, and we can keep the tax burden off of the people who are on a fixed income,” Hackett said.
The money will allow Hackett to purchase a cruiser to replace a 2005 Ford Crown Victoria that has “significant” rust issues and needs approximately $6,000 of work within the next 12 to 18 months to keep it road legal.
The Crown Vic, valued at $2,000 or less and sporting 86,000 miles, has far outlived its five-year capital reserve replacement schedule. That is in large part because residents in 2008 donated a 2004 Dodge Durango to be used as a second cruiser. (The Durango has since been replaced.)
Having two cars means the three part-time officers in Cornish put fewer miles on each vehicle and each cruiser suffers less wear and tear.
“With two cruisers, the town can plan on getting 10 years out of a cruiser,” Hackett wrote in a letter posted on Connect Cornish earlier this month. “I am asking the townspeople that can, to dig deep and send in a donation to replace this valuable piece of equipment.”
People were responsive, and the department is now about $4,800 away from its goal.
It did take some time though. The police department in 2015 put a two-year article on the Town Meeting warrant to accept donations and between 2015 and recently, the town had raised just over $16,000.
Because the money came in slowly, Hackett in January said he proposed taking the $16,000 in donations and putting it toward a new cruiser, with the remainder coming from capital reserve.
The Selectboard, however, wasn’t receptive to that idea because Hackett had previously stated publicly that having two cruisers wouldn’t result in any additional taxpayer costs and that the second vehicle would be replaced in the manner it was received: donations.
“We felt like it wouldn’t look good if he suddenly asked for taxpayer dollars,” Selectboard Chairman John Hammond said on Monday. “We reminded him of that and he understood. Since (January), there have been a couple of people that have given generous donations.”
He added: “Cornish has had a fairly long history of public support for a lot of its things.”
Because the 2015 article has since lapsed, a new article is on this year’s warrant. The article is merely administrative, and will allow the powers at be to expend the donations.
All of the donations for the cruiser have gone through the town treasurer, Hackett said, so he and his officers are “out of the picture completely” when it comes to who donated and how much.
Cornish Fire Chief Robert Rice said donations and fundraising events have been instrumental to advancing his department.
“We have had very good luck with help from the townspeople and from other people who come to our fundraising events,” Rice said. “It has been great.”
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.