AUSTINTOWN — The township has implemented a hiring freeze for the police department, and the general fund will be used to cover some of the department’s expenses this year, officials said.

Nonetheless, they said, police service in Austintown remains stable.

“The residents should not expect to see any change to police response, we still have five cars on the road at all times,” Chief Robert Gavalier said. “They will not see any change to service or drop in the quality of service we provide.”

Gavalier said the department is maintaining a full roster of 39 officers. However, Township Administrator Mark D’Apolito said the levies that support the department are no longer generating enough funds to cover all police operations.

Austintown has four police levies on the books totaling 9.2 mills. The most recent, a 3.2-mill levy passed in 2018, generates about $1.9 million per year. There also is a 2-mill replacement levy from 2012 that generates roughly $1.17 million, and the rest comes from levies passed in 2006 and 1976.

At 100% of tax collection, the township’s police levies generate just over $5.2 million annually, but the department’s projected budget for the year is $6.83 million. D’Apolito also said levies never produce exactly what they should because the township never receives 100% of payable tax revenue.

He said the township expects to collect about $5.1 million, leaving approximately a $1.5 million gap that will be covered by the township’s general fund.

“The general fund is the safety net for all the departments,” D’Apolito said. “We are looking at everything to trim the impacts to the general fund. We are trying to be fiscally responsible and proactive.”

D’Apolito said they still have not factored in the property tax reappraisals, officially released earlier this month by Mahoning County Auditor Ralph Meacham.

“We do not have revaluation numbers yet, but I don’t believe this will change because it’s all outside millage. It’s possible that we could see some small changes to the police budget, but there really will not be any changes to these levies,” he said. “But the general fund will adjust because it’s inside millage, and that could help offset the cost for the police department.”

D’Apolito said that, to some extent, the budget shortfalls are just part and parcel with the life cycle of levies.

“In the early years, a levy brings in a little bit of a surplus, so in year one you address deferred needs you have, then in year two you’ve got some funds to carry forward that you can save for future years,” he said.

In later years, he said, market forces tend to eat up more of the money a levy generates, and that is the problem the township faces now.

He added that the passage of a new 3-mill fire levy in November has made budgeting easier for Austintown.

“The fire department levy is allowing us to manage the police department’s needs without making cuts,” he said. “If both departments were into the general fund, then we might have to worry about how we’re providing safety services.”

D’Apolito and Gavalier said inflation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has driven up the cost of operating the department from personnel to cars and equipment.

Unprecedented wage inflation over the past six years also has posed new challenges for townships trying to maintain safety services, according to D’Apolito.

“Our contracts were brought up to speed to remain competitive, and address some of the retention issues Chief Gavalier was facing,” he said.

Last year, the department lost four officers — one to retirement and three others to higher-paying jobs. One left for the Portage County Sheriff’s Office, another took a job with the state of Ohio, and another left to be a plumber in a family business.

To help the department maintain and recruit officers, the township inked a new contract with the police union that the State Employment Relations Board certified in the first quarter of 2023.

The deal gave $1 an hour raises to all officers who had been there for more than five years and an additional one-time 3% raise across the board.

Adding to the personnel costs, the department hired three officers whose salaries were 60% covered by a grant from the Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Program. That grant ends this year, and the department will have to pay the full cost of those salaries.

Gavalier said the department might apply for the grant again in May. He said the grant is used for retention, but also for hiring new officers when departments are preparing for other officers to retire so that trainees have good mentorship.

Personnel is just one cost, though.

Gavalier said the cost of police cars went up $10,000 in one year. Cruisers that used to cost $32,300 now cost $42,200. Outfitting each vehicle with police equipment increased from $10,000 per unit to $15,000.

Gavalier said a car usually lasts the department about three years, and they replace three cars each year. The newest ones were bought at the end of 2023.

D’Apolito and Gavalier both said the replacement cycle is important because there is an exorbitant maintenance cost involved with not replacing them.

“Those vehicles run 24 / 7,” Gavalier said. “The cars we just took off the road all had about

146,000 miles on them.” He said the mileage is not the only impact on the cars. Mobile data terminals in the cars need to be connected to a running vehicle, so even when the cruiser is not on the road the engine is always idling.

Gavalier said cars usually take three sets of tires, full oil changes every 3,000 miles, brakes and other basic maintenance.

“The cost has been a lot less since we’ve gone to the three-year cycle,” he said. The department spent just over $53,000 last year on vehicle maintenance.

D’Apolito said the township is watching the market closely and expects wage inflation to stabilize by the time the current police union contract ends, and he said he hopes other factors will help offset the department’s shortfall over the next year.

He said officials have not yet discussed any levies, although they would be likely to seek replacements instead of new additional levies if they did put anything on the ballot.

“We’re not so far into the general fund that we would have to make quality of service adjustments,” he said. “We just did not want to add more officers to the mix until we’re on more solid footing.”