The Oley Township supervisors would be crazy to think crime spilling over from Reading isn't going to affect their township in years to come, the president of the Berks Lodge 71 Fraternal Order of Police told them Monday night.
Joseph M. Brown was at the meeting because the supervisors are thinking about reducing the size of their police force to balance their 2012 budget. He urged them not to.
"I see every day what's coming out of the city and coming into the county," said Brown, a West Reading police detective. "It's moving out and moving out. You have a decision to make. It's a tough decision to make."
The Oley's police department has five officers and a K-9 unit.
The supervisors are looking at laying off one full-time officer, making another part time and decommissioning the department's German shepherd.
Brown accused supervisors of using scare tactics -- talk of a whopping tax increase -- to justify the move.
"Your number is so outlandish, it's nothing more than to scare the elderly people and the people here in the township into thinking that their taxes would be doubled and they wouldn't be able to eat," he said.
Brown also picked up on a suggestion made by others at the meeting that the full-time road superintendent position now held by Supervisor Craig Conrad be made part time.
That notion arose after Conrad announced at the meeting that he was resigning as road superintendent to take a job with the Wyomissing Valley Joint Municipal Authority Wastewater Treatment Facility.
The resignation is effective Jan. 2, but Conrad will remain on the board of supervisors.
Conrad's annual salary is $49,785.
It was resident Paul Herb who first suggested making the road master position part time and using the savings for the police department.
"Opportunity knocks here," Herb said. "I know snow may be an issue and you may need a part-timer, but I'd rather see a five-man police force. It would give you a chance to save the police department."
Kevin Bieber, a member of the township's board of auditors, suggested waiting a year before making a final decision to cut the force.
"It's very obvious that the community wants the police," he said. "At the last budget meeting, the shortfall ended up being around $80,000. Now, we've had a change in structure with Craig's job. His salary is potentially out there to be used."
"If everybody works to the bare minimum this year, then you maintain your police force," Bieber added. "Try it for a year. Corporations are doing it. Businesses are doing it. Give it a whirl. What have you got to lose?"
The 2012 budget is expected to be adopted during a 9 a.m. meeting on Dec. 29.
Copyright 2011 - Reading Eagle, Pa.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
