In spite of the rather bleak outlook Marcellus Mayor John P. Curtin warned of in April, the village’s adopted 2010-11 budget managed to increase police presence in the community without raising the tax rate.
The success of the renewed school resource officer program in Marcellus schools, which puts uniformed Marcellus police officers in the school buildings on a daily basis, was so well-received that the school requested additional hours of police presence in the schools for next year. The village increased the police budget accordingly, Curtin said.
The school district reimburses the village for the cost of employing the two SROs.
At the April 5 annual meeting, Curtin warned residents that if the county eliminated the village’s portion of shared sales tax money — which represents about $300,000 of last year’s operating budget — the village police force could be significantly reduced or even face dissolution.
In its debut year, the SRO program enlisted Marcellus officers John Drapikowski and Melissa Constanza as school resource officers, stationing Constanza at the high school and Drapikowski at Driver Middle School.
Constanza said the students were apprehensive at first, but she was surprised by how quickly they opened up to her.
“Everybody knows me now, and they tell me things that go on that are illegal — they trust me that much,” she said. “They’re willing to come to me and talk.”
That’s an important aspect of the counseling-based program, through which parents as well as students are encouraged to contact Constanza and Drapikowski to talk about issues.
Though the SROs wear a more casual uniform than the typical police-issue blues, they are armed.
“We’re not security. We’re the real police,” Constanza said. And having “real” police presence in their halls shows students that issues are being handled and problems are being solved, she added.
Parents who would like to talk with the SROs are encouraged to contact Marcellus High School at 673-0296 or Driver Middle School at 673-0219.
Sales tax revenue cut in half
Though the sales tax sharing agreement approved by the county legislature earlier this month cut funding to villages in half, Curtin said the financial situation was better than it could have been.
“It looks better than I thought it might. The worst part was not knowing,” Curtin said.
In the budget, approved April 26, the board estimated a more conservative cut of the sales tax monies shared by the county than it will receive, Curtin said. And money has been guaranteed to be available to villages for the life of the 10-year agreement.
Curtin said the village tax rate will remain steady at $5 per $1,000 assessed value; villagers should keep an eye on their county tax bill as the new sales tax sharing agreement may lower the county tax rate and make it “more palatable,” he added.