Regional Police Force May Face Roadblock

The merger of four local police forces once looked nearly like a done deal but now appears in danger of falling through.

Though the boroughs of Doylestown and New Britain have publicly approved the idea of merging their police departments into a larger, regional force, Doylestown and Warwick townships have taken no action for weeks. And now, officials in Doylestown Township say they are concerned that they won't be able to afford the new force.

The main stumbling block is the difference between salary and benefits packages in the four towns, Doylestown Township Police Chief Stephen White said this week.

The state recommends adopting the best salary and benefit elements of the merging forces, White said. If the municipalities follow that guideline, chances are good that Doylestown Township would have to drop out, he said.

"When they say the best of the best, we’re not in a position to do that," White said. "If you look at the pay structure of Warwick Township compared to ours, they are much higher. If Warwick wants to continue their salary and benefits, we can’t afford to do that."

Barbara Lyons, chair of the Doylestown Township Supervisors, echoed those concerns.

"Based on salary levels and benefits packages already in place among the interested municipalities, I am not optimistic that an affordable contract can be devised and agreed upon," she said.

Complicating the issue is the fact that the township's police contract expired last year and is currently under negotiation.

"The board of supervisors can’t do anything about the merger until they settle those negotiations," White said, "and that’s not going to be the easiest thing to settle. We do have an economic problem in Doylestown Township where we can’t afford to do a lot."

Facing a budget shortfall for 2011, township supervisors raised taxes by 3 mills and rearranged revenue streams to try to balance the budget and close the gap.

Talk of a meeting between the police chiefs, the police unions and elected officials to discuss the issue in depth has swirled for weeks, but no one has taken the lead on scheduling it. Wednesday, a frustrated Det Ansinn said he would be happy to do so.

"Whenever they would like to do it, I’ll put it in my schedule," said Ansinn, president of Doylestown Borough Council. "We’ll have that meeting. If we get to the end of April and there’s still no meeting, then we'll have to ask why no decision has been made."

Earlier this week, Lyons said in an email that she is willing to meet to discuss the issue. A meeting hopefully would clear up many of the questions Doylestown Township officials have.

"My goal is to learn whether a regional (police) contract is doable or whether we would be priced out of the local economy," Lyons said.

But Ansinn and other Doylestown Borough leaders say they're not sure why the issue is rearing its head now.

"I’m not sure why this is an issue now, since it’s one of the very first things we sat down and talked about," he said. "We did a pre-study of what everyone’s books look like. Everybody knew what everybody’s salaries were from the beginning."

Doylestown Borough officials also disputed the implication that the "best of the best" recommendation is set in stone.

To form the new Central Bucks Regional Police Force, the merging municipalities would have to bargain out of their existing contracts with their individual police departments. Then, the new force would have to bargain into a new contract.

That process works no differently than any other labor negotiations, Ansinn said.

"It is not this mechanical sampling of all the best things in each contract. You negotiate a new contract," he said. "Everyone around the table understands that there will be give and take."

Opportunities for advancement and the chance to receive specialized training are just two non-monetary incentives to police to form a regional force, he said.

For the taxpayers of the merging municipalities, the cost savings look significant.

The proposed regional department would have a budget of about $8.6 million, if the four municipalities follow recommendations from the state. Cost could be divided among the four based on population, number of reported crimes, and the number of calls for service in each.

A comparison of what the four municipalities pay now versus the share they would pay for a regional force in 2012 shows Doylestown saving about $11,000 and Doylestown Township saving about $18,000. New Britain Borough is estimated to save $102,592 and Warwick Township, $246,978, according to the state study.

Though it stands to save the most, Warwick has made no move to approve the merger, and support from township officials has seemed lukewarm, at best.

Despite the concerns Doylestown Township is voicing now over the salary issue, leaders there have publicly stated their support for the merger - support which White reaffirmed this week.

"I really do believe that if you look 15, 25 years down the road, there really is no other way to do this," said the chief, who is retiring soon. "There is simply too much duplication of efforts, which is a waste of taxpayer dollars. I would like to see the merger happen, but it’s not going to be as easy as we thought.

"Given all that, a target of June 1, 2012 is probably unrealistic," White said, referring to the preliminary target date for the regional force to begin. "If we’re able to do it, it’s going to take longer than that."

Meanwhile, officials in Doylestown Borough just want to know one way or another who's in and who's out.

"If they’re not going to participate, just say so," Ansinn said. "Then we can move ahead and explore the merger with New Britain and maybe other municipalities. But I have to say that I’m disappointed. I still hope that they can work through their issues. Regionalization just makes a lot of sense, and we want to make it work."