The report on consolidating police forces lays out two options. One is a complete consolidation of all departments in the county. The other would include just sharing some services between departments. Both are said to save money. And all people FOX23 News spoke with agree something has to be done.
Cities and towns all over the state are facing a dilemma, how do they keep their people safe as state and federal aid continues to be cut?
"Local governments need to continue to provide basic services and we need to reduce costs. Consolidation is part of that," said Schenectady Mayor Brian Stratton.
On Monday night, a Columbia University consultant laid out his findings about the potential savings of shared services. He says about $2 to $6 million could be saved if all police forces in Schenectady County consolidate.
"What we found in our study was better services at a better price. This isn't less services at lower cost it's better services at lower cost," said Dr. William Eimicke, one of the consultants.
While the report shows most stake holders agree shared services are needed, few were ready to jump into full consolidation.
"With the largeness comes issues, some that we brought out in the study, that people are no longer confident their policing is as it used to be," said Schenectady Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett.
The report found savings in shared services too an estimated $280,000 to $560,000 a year.
"Savings through shared equipment, shared records, shared facilities, spending less on rent, technology, equipment," said Dr. Eimicke.
All parties say the potential seems promising and necessary.
"We are going to be forced into this. The quicker we get going the better off we will be," said Bennett.
But they want to iron the details out before saying 'yes.' "Those are the two big concerns of everybody: cost and can you do it without losing services," said Rotterdam Deputy Chief Bill Manikas.
Another concern with this topic, possible job cuts. The consultant says that sharing doesn't necessarily mean layoffs. Positions could be cut through attrition or retirement.
The next step in all of this is that the departments have to identify together areas they could share services then they can apply for state and federal assistance to move forward.
