By KENNEDY GRIFFIN
(Greenfield, MA) As the fiscal year comes to an end today, residents of Greenfield want to know what changes will be coming to the Greenfield Police Department July 1st when the new, reduced budget comes into effect. During Wednesday’s Public Safety Commission meeting, Acting Chief William Gordon shared some details of the department’s plan to handle the budget cuts and the unintended consequences resulting from the cuts.
The 2023 fiscal year budget for the Greenfield Police Department was reduced by $400,000 in the salaries and wages line and $25,000 in the expenses line. The $400,000 cut would mean laying off up to seven police officers, according to Chief Gordon. However, the department will not be laying off any officers this summer. Chief Gordon is prioritizing public safety and will be filling all necessary shifts, thus making lay offs more costly than keeping the officers on as lay offs come with various costs and filling shifts would then require other officers to use overtime. Potential lay offs will be revisited in the fall as it is possible that more officers may make the choice to retire early or take a leave of absence, resulting in fewer lay offs.
One officer, Laura Gordon, has already made the decision to take a year-long leave of absence to alleviate some of the burden of the budget cut. She will be taking a position with the Erving Police Department and it is unknown whether or not she will return to the Greenfield Police Department after a year. Losing her also means losing all of the work she does with Green River House, Salvation Army, community outreach, and much more.
Chief Gordon is looking at every possible place to save money in order to save officers’ positions, but it comes at a cost. Management-level work such as the accreditation process, Freedom of Information requests, internal investigations, grant applications, and more will all suffer in some way. Moreover, there is the unintended consequence of the budget cuts and stress on the department and that is the morale of the officers – Chief Gordon said it was more difficult to get officers to staff the many events that took place in June and that officers who leave the department as a result of the budget cuts, whether it is as a leave of absence or a layoff, are less likely to return to the department if there positions are re-opened.
Then, when it comes to the $25,000 cut to department expenses the biggest concern is fuel expenses. The steep rise in fuel costs has impacted every department in the town. The police department went over their fuel budget by at least $25,000 for this past year and they are likely to exceed the budget again this year. To combat rising fuel costs, police cruisers have been reduced from four to two and instead of one officer per vehicle, there are two in each so the number of officers responding to calls will be maintained. Chief Gordon has looked into other options such as bicycle patrols and motorcycles, but neither are feasible as motorcycles would have to be bought – costing more money and officers cannot respond quickly to calls if using bicycles across town.
During public comment, one resident came to speak and she said that neighborhood watch models have been successful in towns like Northampton and she asked about the potential to have civilians work traffic duties on DPW construction jobs. Chief Gordon did say he is open to potentially having a civilian response to some calls.
“Citizens of this town are my neighbors and I care deeply about them,” said Chief Gordon.