AUSTINTOWN — Township trustees want to clear the air about a grant they recently received.

The township just applied for and won a $750,000 Community Oriented Policing Services grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.

However, trustees Robert Santos and Bruce Shepas said they are concerned that some local media sources have misrepresented the grant’s purpose.

“This is to retain the six officers we already have because of this grant, not to hire new officers,” Santos said.

The trustees said the township first received the grant three years ago, and it is set to expire at the end of this year. Without securing the grant again, the Austintown Police Department would have to lay off those officers.

The township’s successful application means they retain them for another three years.

Santos and Shepas said they are concerned that misinformation about the grant will compromise the township’s bid for a 2.2-mill police levy on the November ballot. The levy, if passed, would generate $2.3 million for the police department, and would cost homeowners $84 per $100,000 of property value.

Shepas said American Rescue Plan funds sustained the department during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the termination of those dollars leaves the township with a $1.3 million deficit in the police budget.

“We did our due diligence,” Shepas said. “We went through their budget and red-lined it. We stopped nonmandatory training, stopped buying new cruisers, but to cut $1.3 million would be impossible.”

Shepas said staffing is a major priority, should the levy pass. The department is already short four officers from its optimal staffing level, and two more are expected to retire next year. Shepas said without the COPS grant, Austintown would be short 12 officers some time next year.

With the levy funds, he said they can hire four more to bring the department up to standard staffing levels, and likely replace the retiring officers.

Shepas said the levy also will support other functions of the department, including maintaining an officer on the Mahoning County Human Trafficking Task Force and three on the Mahoning County Drug Task Force.

Shepas noted that those officers have played prominent roles in recent high-profile drug and human trafficking busts.

“I would hate to pull those four officers back,” he said. “But our priority is to protect our Austintown residents first, so if we have to pull them back to patrol our neighborhoods and keep them safe, we will.”

Shepas said the levy also would help the department with much needed equipment and technology upgrades. That includes a new police cruiser or two, but also getting the department current with what other law enforcement agencies are using.

That includes scheduling software, a police dog reporting software, a cell-phone forensic analyzer, radios and servers for dispatch and things Shepas said people don’t consider, like HVAC upkeep in the police station and maintenance on police vehicles.

“People don’t think about those, but maintaining a police department, it’s so expensive,” he said.

Shepas said the township will host a forum on the levy at 6 p.m. Sept. 25 at township hall.