Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Budget woes force work cuts for part-time officers

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 18:58:36 -0500

Budget woes force work cuts for part-time officers

Saturday, February 8, 2003

By Linda Stiles
Staff Writer

Leoni Township will reduce the hours of its part-time police
officers to help keep the budget in line with state
revenue-sharing cuts.

Cities and townships have seen a 3.5 percent cut in the state
funds this winter because of Michigan's budget crisis. But
additional cuts are expected within the next few months to trim
an even larger shortfall in the state's budget for the next fiscal
year. The state sales tax revenue-sharing funds typically make
up about 50 percent of township general fund budgets.

The 3.5 percent cut means an annual reduction of about
$40,000 in the state funds to Leoni's Township's general fund
budget of $2.7 million

The board approved the police cutbacks Wednesday. The
change will mean that sometimes the township will have only
one car on the road, instead of two or three. Additional cars
will be added to meet peak needs, such as in dealing with
accidents from slippery roads, additional traffic from various
events and at other times as needed.

It isn't clear how much money will be saved by the cutbacks,
Leoni Township Clerk Joan Spicer said. No one will be laid
off, she said. The township has five full-time and three
part-time officers.

In other business, the Leoni board agreed to invite a
representative of Nextel Communications to come to the next
township board meeting Feb. 19 to discuss the possibility of
locating a new cellular communications tower at the township
offices.

The issue results because the township loses wireless contact
with public works employees when they are working on sewer
lines in the Clark Lake area, and a tower would improve the
reception, Spicer said.

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