FAIRLEE — With police budgets across the country coming under increasing scrutiny, residents in the small towns of Fairlee, Norwich and Thetford this week signaled that they are comfortable with the coverage they have, and might even be open to curbing some spending.
Most notably, voters at Town Meeting in Fairlee, population 1,029, roundly rejected a measure that would have more than doubled patrolling time in town in a 162-116 vote.
The cost — nearly $31,000 to contract with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department for an additional 20 hours of police coverage a week — was a main concern for Fairlee resident Norman Kalen. He said he voted against the article because it “didn’t seem necessary,” and he couldn’t justify spending that amount on additional police.
“Nothing has been happening that would increase the need for police presence,” he said in front of the Wing’s Market & Deli on Route 5.
Currently, Orford Police Chief Jason Bachus also doubles as Fairlee’s sole police officer, working around 10 hours a week for the town. Fairlee also has a standing contract with the sheriff’s department for an additional seven hours of coverage a week, while all other calls in town get handled by the Vermont State Police.
However, if it had passed, the Town Meeting article would have meant a more regular police presence in Fairlee, which could help cut down on traffic incidents and curb criminal activity like theft and burglaries, Bachus said. He said the additional coverage would have helped because Fairlee sees a lot of traffic, partly due to its interchange with Interstate 91, which runs through the town.
“I’m disappointed. I was looking at trying to get more proactive services,” Bachus said in an interview following the vote this week.
Some Fairlee residents, like Sandra Smith-Ordway, share the disappointment. She said in a message Friday that the response time from Vermont State Police can be lengthy when Bachus or a sheriff’s deputy isn’t on duty. An increased presence could mean a faster response.
“We all want to feel secure in our communities and this is one way to achieve that outcome,” she wrote.
Orange County Sheriff Bill Bohnyak said he believes “COVID has a lot to do with it.”
“(Residents) are thinking about the amount of people who have been laid off. … We’re still going to see the after-effects,” he said.
Bachus also said the decision to vote the measure down may be linked to financial concerns from the pandemic.
“The majority of concern was the cost versus the increase in calls for service,” Bachus said, explaining that voters wanted to see that there was an increased need for police last year before agreeing to the additional funding. However, he said police received fewer calls last year because of COVID-19.
Bohnyak said the questions around curbing police spending this year might be “the tip of the iceberg,” when it comes to the impact the coronavirus will have on municipal budgets in the future.
The two towns south of Fairlee on Route 5 are asking similar questions about police spending this year.
At Thetford’s Town Meeting on Tuesday, voters approved an operating budget that included just under $400,000 for the police department. While that’s a nearly 2% increase from the budget approved the previous year, it also comes with some funding reductions, like $24,000 less in patrol costs and $2,000 less in patrol overtime, and accounting changes by Thetford officials to better reflect total police spending.
In an email Friday, Selectboard member Nick Clark said the reductions are a result of “economic realities we can’t ignore” including the impact of the pandemic, the increasing cost of living in Thetford, and a road repair bond. Additionally, he said, the police workload has been decreasing, though he doesn’t know whether the cuts in funding will lead to a reduction in hours.
Thetford Police Chief Mike Evans said he doesn’t know how the budget will affect coverage because police are still in contract negotiations with the town. But, like Fairlee police, Evans said he wants to maintain a regular presence in the town to deter crime.
“It’s about presence and an availability to respond with a person who knows the community,” Evans said, adding that a decreased police presence would mean less community policing.
Police funding was also called into question in the weeks leading up to Norwich’s Town Meeting. While voters approved a budget that increased police funding by 1.4%, it also decreased funds for “community relations” within the department by around $600 based on a history of how much money the department actually spends on community relations.
That line item pays for community policing projects like “coffee with a cop” and similar programs, Selectboard Vice Chair Roger Arnold said Friday. Additionally, board members voted not to give the department funds to purchase another police cruiser in a February meeting.
Arnold said that, though the funding decrease was minimal, it did raise questions about how police funding should be spent — and the role of police in general — during a meeting earlier this month.
“What is the role of community policing? Should we fund community policing programs? Is that a good use of public money? All of these questions to some extent were asked at the meeting,” Arnold said.
Norwich’s longtime Police Chief Jen Frank is stepping down to take a police chief position in Windsor, and Arnold said the town has not picked a replacement.
Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.