Port Orange officials are asking Sheriff Ben Johnson how much it would cost to replace the dark-blue uniforms of its police department with the dark-green garb of the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.
In a six-page letter dated June 28, City Manager Ken Parker asked Johnson how much it would cost Port Orange if the sheriff were to take over police services for the city of more than 56,000 people.
According to Parker's missive, the City Council asked him to request the information at its last council meeting on June 22. This after Parker sent out a memo to council members telling them he has not "been an advocate of contracting with the Sheriff."
Parker said municipal police departments "tend to have a jurisdictional orientation, whereas the Sheriff has to maintain a countywide perspective."
The city manager also offered a word of caution to the panel in his memo.
"If the City Council contracts for police services, we would need to develop specifications and a contract that would meet the city's operational needs," Parker wrote. "I would encourage the city to take time to study the impact of such a decision.
"It is very difficult to return to offering police services once it is contracted out," Parker said.
But Mayor Allen Green said the current economic climate may be the deciding factor.
"In these economic times, we certainly want to be able to pursue all options," Green said. "Citizens have been complaining about costs. We provide a certain level of (police) services to our citizens. But if people don't want to pay for it, we have to explore other options."
Green said he has broached the issue with Johnson, and the sheriff told him the cost savings would not be immediate, but would materialize over time.
The projected budget for the 83-member Port Orange Police Department for the coming year is just over $11 million, Police Chief Gerald Monahan said. That includes operations, pensions and benefits, the chief's staff said.
Monahan said he realizes the council is looking for ways to reduce costs, and he'll abide by any decision the panel makes regarding police services.
The Sheriff's Office polices unincorporated Volusia County, as well as Deltona and DeBary. The cost of providing services to Deltona -- which is larger than Port Orange with almost 90,000 people -- is $8.7 million.
Deltona has never had a police department though, so the costs to Port Orange -- although smaller than Deltona in size and population -- would be more involved. The city would still be responsible for the pensions and benefits of sworn personnel and civilian employees who are retired, and those who are still on staff, before the transition is made to the Sheriff's Office, Parker said.
So far this year, Port Orange is the only city that has asked the Sheriff's Office for a cost proposal, Johnson said. Edgewater and Oak Hill did so in years past, but kept their police departments.
In 2008, Deltona voters rejected a referendum calling for a city police department.
While the proposal was backed by Mayor Dennis Mulder, it stirred controversy. The city forked over $70,000 for a study by Willdan Homeland Solutions, which concluded that Deltona could form its own agency with 93 employees, including 81 officers and 12 administrative staffers, for $12 million. The study said it would cost about $9 million per year to run.
Johnson could not discuss how much his agency would charge Port Orange because he is still gathering information and has yet to meet with Parker and other city officials.
In his memo to council members, Parker figured the cost would be about $10.5 million. But that doesn't factor in the pension costs.
If the Sheriff's Office were to provide police services for Port Orange, the agency could retain many of Port Orange police's sworn personnel. Johnson said the fact that the issue is even being discussed is not a reflection of the officers who work for Port Orange, but a sign of the shaky economic times.
"There are a lot of good people in Port Orange and I don't know of any there that I wouldn't want working for me," the sheriff said. "We can provide a fine service."
