Sleepy Hollow cuts police midnight shifts to save money

Despite narrowing a six-figure budget deficit to within $40,000, the Sleepy Hollow village board is telling the police department to cut the number of overnight patrol shifts beginning next month.

The village board on Tuesday voted to reduce overnight patrol shifts to one patrol officer - down from the current two officers - for five nights per week. Trustees Russell Getz, Don Ziemba and Jeff Seiler, along with Village President Stephen Pickett, voted for the cutbacks. Trustees Scott Finney, Steve Wind and Dennis Fudala voted against the reductions.

Police Chief Jim Montalbano said the shift changes will take effect the first full week of October.

Village board members who supported the measure said the reduced hours would help the village overcome a $40,000 budget deficit.

"We've got a budget situation with a deficit that needs to be reduced," said Pickett, who broke the tie. "The minimum we are looking at saving is about $30,000 per year."

Estimates show the village will save about $18,000 in the remainder of the current fiscal year, which ends April 30, 2011.

But opponents of the move say the decision is not about balancing the budget. Finney said the village had options to make up the budget gap, such as using reserve funds that were earmarked for infrastructure improvements at a proposed development south of the village that fell through.

"We are within spitting distance of filling the budget gap without making these cuts," Finney said. "We had the money and this really came down to competing scores to settle. They exploited a real financial problem that the village is facing to unwind all the chief has done in 30 years."

Finney added the cuts did not fill the entire deficit, but left a massive hole in the village's public safety. Wind said the some members of the village board had attempted to reduce the midnight patrol shift since the department added the shift four years ago.

"If it was strictly a financial matter, I would be dealing with this better," Wind said. "But it is all about getting rid of a cop. They don't seem to have a problem with a guy being on duty alone in the middle of the night. They feel that's OK. It's unconscionable."