LYON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — Twelve communities in Oakland County will have to pay more money when it comes to police services involving the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
The cost for police services here in Lyon Township is expected to rise significantly. Township officials are now trying to figure out if they can afford the rate hike.
“It came as a pretty big surprise to everybody here,” said Lyon Township Board of Trustee Sean O’Neil.
During the December 2nd Lyon Township Board of Trustees meeting, township officials discussed the more than 30 percent increase in cost for police services over the three years.
“In three years, it’s a million and a half in three years,” said Lyon Township Supervisor John Dolan.
Lyon Township does not have its own police department. The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office handles law enforcement for Lyon Township and eleven other municipalities.
Back in November, the Oakland County Board of Commissioners approved increasing the rates for the sheriff office's services.
“It’s unfortunate, but we’ll get through it,” said Dolan.
The commissioners in favor of the increase said it was necessary because the municipalities weren’t paying enough money for the deputies to do their jobs.
Some of the other reasons for the rate hike include the increasing cost of deputies’ health insurance, worker's compensation, and equipment costs.
The commissioners against the increase, like Bob Hoffman, say the hike in rates came at the last minute, giving municipalities little time to figure out where the extra money will come from.
“The real problem here, these police services are paid for through local taxes. A lot of these municipalities, or all of them, have already set their budgets and their tax millage rates for the coming year. They have no opportunity to go out to get more money,” said Hoffman.
For Lyon Township, officials are worried that the rate increase will impact how many school resource officers the township will be able to pay for in the future.
“It’s going to be a challenging situation moving forward to even keep three SROs,” said Lyon Township Substation Commander Lt. Leslie Whitfield.
Commissioner Hoffman says he would’ve liked to see the rate increase come later.
“We’d be better off easing into this. If they need to hold an election in a reasonable period of time, when there’s another election being held, you get the economies of scale. That’s the way it should be done,” Hoffman added. “This is just too much, too soon.”
