Councilman Hickey will vote against city budget if two police positions aren't included

Jun. 5—WATERTOWN — Councilman Patrick J. Hickey worked in public safety for just about all of his career, so he opposes cutting two police officers from the proposed city budget.

Last Tuesday, Councilman Hickey and his colleagues informally agreed to remove two of five proposed police officer positions from the $57.5 million proposed spending plan.

"It left a bitter taste in my mouth," Councilman Hickey said.

He says he will vote against the budget on Monday night if the two positions aren't kept in the spending plan. The budget session begins at 6:30 p.m.

At Monday's final budget session, council members will also consider giving themselves $4,000 pay raises, among dozens of other budget modifications they will be asked to take action on.

Last week, Councilman Cliff G. Olney III was the only one who opposed cutting two of the five police officer positions from the budget.

Since Tuesday's meeting, Councilman Hickey has discussed the issue with councilors Olney and Lisa A. Ruggiero, who also is reconsidering her initial support to remove them from the budget.

Councilwoman Sarah V. Compo Pierce, who couldn't be reached for comment, is also considering retaining them in the budget, he said.

In his proposed budget, City Manager Kenneth A. Mix proposed adding 24 new positions at a cost of $1.4 million, saying that they would be covered by an unexpected increase in sales tax revenues.

At last Tuesday's meeting, council members decided to reduce that number by four — two police officers and one position each in the public works department and codes office.

During earlier budget deliberations, Police Chief Charles P. Donoghue told council members that the police department has a staffing shortage. The chief told council members that he needed all five positions, Councilman Hickey recalled.

"I thought about it for a while," Councilman Hickey said, adding that his work as a corrections officer, time with Guilfoyle Ambulance Service and serving on the Jefferson County 911 committee have led him to reconsider the two positions.

The proposed police department additions are three road patrol officers, a police lieutenant and a police sergeant for the county drug task force. The police department needs a second officer to go out on warrants and a second officer to work in the evidence room, Mr. Hickey said.

The department has three recruits finishing up training after several left to work for New York State Police and one decided that he no longer wanted to get into police work, the councilman said.

On Friday, Mayor Jeffrey M. Smith reiterated that council needs to go through with keeping the two police officers and the extra DPW and codes positions out of the budget.

The city needs to think about the long-term financial impacts of adding so many positions, the mayor said. He questions what will happen when sales tax revenues aren't so robust and continuing inflation hurts the national economy.

"You have to do incremental increases for employees," he said.

But Councilman Olney criticized the mayor for not supporting the police department and the addition of all five officers. He claimed the mayor was "defunding the police." Mayor Smith still supports adding three officers.

Councilman Olney's remark rekindled their ongoing feud. The mayor questioned whether Councilman Olney deserves a raise after being in office for five months.

"No one in the city is getting a $4,000 pay raise," Mayor Smith said Friday. "People aren't getting that kind of pay raise."

But Councilman Olney refused to back down from the statement.

In defending himself, Councilman Olney quoted former President Bill Clinton.

"Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good," he said regarding the issue.

The council pay raises seem to be in jeopardy. Last week, Mayor Smith and Councilwoman Compo Pierce opposed them.

Councilman Hickey now says he doesn't care about getting a pay raise.

"I've only been on the job for five months," he said.

If the raises go through, council members' annual salaries would increase from $13,314 to $17,314, and the mayor's would go from $17,753 to $21,753.

The last salary increase for council members was just under 4% from fiscal year 2014-15 to 2015-16. The council salaries remained the same until 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when they dipped.

The proposed budget also includes funding for a 2.75% cost of living increase for city management employees.

During budget deliberations last week, council members also said they were not thrilled about spending $1.25 million to expand the city's hiking trails along the Black River. It was proposed to use American Rescue Plan Act funding to complete the new trails.

Instead, they expressed that the ARPA funding could be better spent on other park and recreational projects. So Mr. Mix proposed adding that $1.25 million to $3 million in ARPA money planned for improvements to Thompson Park. Council members agreed.

The possible improvements include Thompson Park projects that have been talked about for years but the city could not pursue without the use of $22 million in federal ARPA funding.

Mr. Mix mentioned possibly adding an ice rink and stage or bandstand, basketball courts and disc golf courses.

The city will complete a master plan for the park before the city decides which projects to pursue, Mr. Mix said.

Under the spending plan, the property tax rate would decrease 1.77% from the current budget.