The long debates of City Council over the addition of seven new officers to the Madison Police Department staff are far from over, as alders question the fiscal responsibility of the action, which was passed despite strong objection from Mayor Sue Bauman.
Currently, the officers have yet to be hired due to a city-wide hiring freeze instituted by the Mayor last month.
Despite the recent state Joint Finance Committee decision to alter Gov. McCallum's Budget Reform Act so as not to cut shared revenue given to local governments for the current budget year, Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said it was too early to tell if that decision will remain intact as the bill goes through the Assembly and Senate. Madison could face a loss of millions in state funding this year if the bill reverts to its original form.
\I feel we don't have enough information on how much pain the state Legislature and governor are going to inflict on the city,"" he said.
The officers would be hired under the federal Community Oriented Policing Services grant, which requires Madison to hire 15 officers between 2001 and 2003 to obtain aid that would pay for the first few years of those officials' salaries. Madison hired one in 2001 and renegotiated the contract so that it does not have to hire seven in 2003, but could face a penalty for not hiring the current officials.
The issue will probably come up during today's Board of Estimates meeting, according to Ald. Cindy Thomas, District 7.
""To override the budgetary freeze we would need three-fourths of the council,"" she said. ""My sense is were going to compromise on a lot of things.""
Both Ald. Tom Powell, District 5, and Verveer said the current budget crisis simply increases their belief that the move would be a mistake.
""What I've been most frustrated with is that they wanted to spend almost a million dollars on these seven new cops without any sort of idea of what they'll be used for,"" Powell said.
Verveer said although he supports additional funding to the MPD in general, the department needs to face the same cuts as other city agencies.
""Year-in and year-out they have received increase,"" he said. ""They just cannot be treated like a sacred cow.\
