By David Fleet
Editor
Atlas Twp.-On Monday night the township board of trustees said they will negotiation on a new contract with the Genesee County Sheriff Department, which expires Dec. 31. The contract will be presented in October.
Township Supervisor Tere Onica said the new contract will include the School Resource Officer a 30 percent township/70 percent Goodrich Schools split and the general policing agreement.
The current $599,780 two-year contract increased by about 2 percent increase over the previous 2018 agreement. The new contract, if approved, will be effective Jan. 1, 2021 through Dec. 31, 2022 with the sheriff department and includes four deputies along with funding for a detective-sergeant, split between Fenton and the township. In addition, in March 2019 a school resource officer was selected at a cost of $123,341 of which the school was responsible for 70 percent or $88,101 for a 21 month period of time. The township will pay 30 percent per the agreement.
“Everyone is down on revenue,” said Onica. “We were asked to consider a higher donation (to the school). I asked the sheriff to provide a new contract for both that will be forthcoming next month.”
The Genesee County Sheriff Department budget was cut by $4.5 million this past year by the county commissioners, said Onica.
“Our revenue sharing is down, but our (property) tax revenue should not take a hit,” she said.
State-shared revenue distributes sales tax collected by the State of Michigan to local governments, like Atlas Township as unrestricted revenues. However, due to the coronavirus and a decline in sales revenues the tax is expected to be down.
GCSO Atlas Township Deputy Casey Seeley will return this year as the SRO. Seeley is a 18 year veteran with the Genesee County Sheriff Office, and has served more than eight years in Atlas Township. He is a native the Caseville Area and a 1997 Atherton High School graduate.
The sheriff department requested the township pay for the SRO upfront and then invoice the school district, she said. The township is billed quarterly for the service.
The township established a contract with the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department about 25 years ago, funded then by 1 mill from area property owners. The law enforcement is now funded by a 2.1 millage OK’d in May 2017, by township voters for police protection and 1 mill for the fire department. The five-year millage will generate an estimated $620,000 for the police services and $294,000 for the fire department
A township taxpayer with a $100,000 home pays about $105 per year for police protection.