Brookfield Township residents will have the chance to vote on a 2-mill, five-year police levy that would allow two police cruisers to patrol township roads at all times.

Township trustees decided to place the levy on the March 2004 primary ballot at a work session Monday.

If passed, the levy would raise $268,186 each year over the five-year period. In addition to keeping two officers on the streets at all times, Police Chief Dan Faustino said the added revenue would be used to update radio systems, computers and account for rising costs with the county dispatchers.

The police department has been operating on the same revenue since the last police levy was passed in November 1996. According to recent figures published by the school district, the owners of an $80,000 house in Brookfield could expect to pay an extra $49 a year, or about $4.09 a month, if the 2-mill levy is passed.

"I can't cut anymore without delving into staff," Faustino said of his department's budget at a trustee meeting two weeks ago. "I spend the money like it's mine, probably even stingier than if it was mine."

The March police levy will be the fifth placed on the ballot since 1975.

The levy was moved up to March to accommodate the presidential election next fall.