Mark Millican
markmillican@daltoncitizen.com
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Like other school systems across the state, budget woes have hit Dalton Public Schools hard. After making cuts in several areas to deal with the shortfall, school officials have now turned to the cops.
On Tuesday, Dalton Police Chief Jason Parker recommended, at the request of the school district, that the Public Service Commission accept a 50 percent level of reimbursement from the school system for school resource officers (SROs) rather than the 75 percent that has been contracted for in the past.
The police department supplies two SROs, which are certified police officers, to Dalton High School and Dalton Middle School. The total cost to the school system for the SROs will be $100,000 for fiscal year 2011, which begins July 1, if the City Council does not approve the commission’s unanimous recommendation for the decrease in reimbursement, according to a memorandum the commission received from the deputy superintendent of the school system.
“Those reimbursements are included as a revenue estimate in the department’s budget,” Parker told the commission. The new agreement would be for the police department’s fiscal year 2011, which runs January through December.
He said there was also a request for officers to provide security “on an as-needed basis” for some school athletic events and have the police department absorb those costs. In the past, SROs have taken the sports details but when the athletic director determined that more security was needed, the school system hired off-duty officers. Parker said the department would budget $2,200 to cover the expense in “overtime funds” from July 2010 to June 2011.
Commission member Carlos Calderin asked why there was such a “big change” in the requested reimbursement for the SROs.
“I know this is supposed to be temporary, but sometimes temporary can become permanent,” he said.
Dalton City Councilman George Sadosuk, who was sitting in on the meeting as the council’s liaison to the commission, called the change “a temporary solution.”
“You’re right, but we’re going to watch this one,” he said to Calderin. “It may save a teacher’s job (in the coming school year).”
The school system has had to cut $5 million out of its budget from the current fiscal year to the fiscal year beginning July 1.
The commission unanimously approved a new package beer license for Nasiruddin Noorudin of the RN Convenience Store at 1011 E. Morris St. But a vote on a new beer, wine and liquor pouring license for the VooDoo Lounge at 300 S. Hamilton St. was postponed because the applicant or another representative did not attend the meeting.
The City Council’s next meeting is set for July 19.
