Come October, Oxford Township will be patrolled by one less Oakland County Sheriff’s deputy.
Officials voted unanimously last week to cut one deputy from the township’s substation in order to keep the police budget balanced.
The deputy facing the axe was added by the township in January 2004 as a way to repay $106,000 in federal grant funds misused in the 1990s by the now-defunct Oxford Police Department, which used to cover both the township and village.
‘I really believe that eliminating that position, which was forced upon us from the old Oxford Police Department, will leave plenty of revenue,? said substation commander Lt. Al Whitefield.
With the federal grant debt paid off, Whitefield said the deputy ‘should have been eliminated last year.?
‘All I’m asking for is the elimination of one (deputy) from the afternoon shift,? the lieutenant told officials.
After the cut takes effect in October, the substation will be staffed by a lieutenant, detective sergeant, patrol investigator and 12 deputies.
Each shift will be staffed by four road patrol deputies with the lieutenant supervising days and sergeant overseeing afternoons.
Cutting a position at the substation was a necessary response to Brandon Township notifying Oxford earlier this month that it would no longer be paying 50 percent of the approximately $120,000 annual cost for a sergeant shared by the two communities.
The sergeant’s cost and services used to be split three ways until Addison Township voted to drop out of the agreement in April.
Unable to absorb the sergeant’s full cost alone, Oxford Township officials began examining different staffing scenarios, all of which including cutting one position from the substation.
Cutting a deputy in October will save the township’s police budget about $25,000 this year, according to Deputy Supervisor Deanna Burns.
Based on next year’s contract prices, it will save $107,934.