Sharon council unanimously adopted an $8.4 million budget for 2004 Thursday night, and the police department could end up benefiting from it.

Along with approving the spending plan, which does not include a tax increase for property owners, council agreed to add two patrol positions to the police force.

Adding the positions does not ensure the police chief will actually get to hire two patrolmen because money for the positions is not in the budget.

At one point the police department had 32 policemen.

Councilman Raymond Fabian asked about adding more police to the current force of 30. He said though 30 may sound like an adequate number, if three police are injured, 10 percent of the force is unable to work.

"That's where the city gets burned," Fabian said, noting that the city doesn't have substitute policemen like school districts have substitute teachers.

Council President Fred Hoffman also advocated additional policemen. He said based on what he's observed, police administration is comfortable with 32 members of the force.

"We'd like to have 40. I think what it all comes down to is management," Police Chief Thomas Burke said, adding the department has always managed with the number of members it has.

Mayor David O. Ryan said if money budgeted for such things as snow removal is not needed, that money could be transferred to the police department in the spring so a patrolman could be hired.

Hoffman suggested replacing only one of two vacant street department positions so at least one other policeman could be hired.

"The foundation of this city has always been the police and fire departments," Hoffman said. He said he doesn't want to pit the different departments against each other because each department is valuable and part of a team effort.

Council and the mayor agreed that another position could be funded if the city collects more tax money than anticipated.

Finance Director Michael Gasparich said he may have underestimated how much tax money the city will collect but he would rather underestimate than over estimate.

Council also discussed other financial concerns such as outstanding bills.

Gasparich said about $161,000 in unpaid bills will be paid this month or in January. He said it is normal to carry over some December bills. Ryan said last year the city had about $500,000 in unpaid bills.

A mill is $1 for every $1,000 of a property's 1970 assessed value and generates about $110,344 for the city.

With taxes holding at 42.5 mills, a homeowner with a property valued at $4,300 will pay about $182 in taxes.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Kristen Garrett at
kgarrett@sharonherald.com