In the town of Chautauqua, outside of the village of Mayville on Route 430 where I reside, we are happy to have the most highly police patrolled area in the county.

With Sheriff headquarters located very nearby, multiple Sheriff and other police cruisers drive by my home many times per hour of the day and regularly at night. The nearby towns close to Mayville also have all-hour Sheriff road patrols due to the geographic proximity to the county police force and county jail. Our police patrol service is included with my county tax and is paid for by every county taxpayer. No extra police budget line in my Town of Chautauqua.

Dunkirk, Jamestown, Fredonia, Ellicott, Busti and Westfield have full-time police forces. Each offers superior police service by all accounts that its taxpayers can all be proud of. But the private property taxpayers of these six communities are paying twice to police: once in their local village, town or city tax bill for local policing and a second time in the county tax bill.

Adding to the double billing for the metro areas of our county is the necessary countywide 9-1-1 agreement whereby the nearest police car including local, state and county forces answer the emergency call. This means that the six locally paid full-time police services are often taken outside the local jurisdictions to answer emergency calls in nearby towns.

This system whereby the towns outside of the local full-time police jurisdictions do not have a budget line for police or have a very small budget line for limited village/city/county patrols is skewed against the six larger communities where most county taxpayers reside. (Note that Carroll has a part-time police force budget line.)

A few towns and villages in the county contract for additional enhanced coverage from the Sheriff’s Department whereby a dedicated Sheriff’s deputy or two is contractually assigned for patrol. Sheriff Jim Quattrone stated recently in an OBSERVER/Post-Journal article that six deputies are each assigned to rotate road coverage for five to seven towns and enhanced dedicated service is assigned if contracted for. As an example, Hanover/Silver Creek local taxpayers pay over and above county tax bills for a needed dedicated Sheriff patrol service simply because they are at the end of the county map.

As a person who has advocated for the fair examination of the cost and delivery of shared services since first becoming active in government in 1977, it is obvious to me that we need to face the fact that at least three of the six communities with full time police forces can no longer afford the service.

Dunkirk, Jamestown and Fredonia are by all reports at the end of budget capacities. These major communities can no longer afford to fund many services to the levels of the past. One of the largest budget lines in these communities is the public safety line. No help seems to be coming from the county seat, although it should be for sure in my opinion. The funding of public safety for most of the county population located in Jamestown, Dunkirk, Fredonia, Busti, Ellicott and Westfield are about maxed out or will be in the not-too-distant future.

The OBSERVER has regularly called for a merger of the Dunkirk and Fredonia police headquarters. Absolutely a good idea, but a band aid for the overburdened Dunkirk and Fredonia taxpayers.

The Chautauqua County Legislature and County Executive need to proactively look at how we deliver and pay for police services before these communities reach the budget breaking point.

This is not a call for the elimination of jobs, but rather a thoughtful fast-paced review of how to save these population center police jobs and continued excellent first responder service where it’s needed most.

Norm Green is a Dewittville resident.