Adopting the recommendations of the Hellertown Police Study could be costly, the Council said

Hellertown Borough Hall (FILE PHOTO)

Hellertown Borough Council’s finance committee met last week, following a report from the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association, which included recommendations for the community’s police department that could burden local taxpayers in the future. The audit was carried out on behalf of the municipality after the former police chief of the municipality was accused of theft at the end of last year.

The finance committee discussed the department’s current finances, the PCPA’s recommendation to add additional officers, a new police department building, and policy and procedural revisions.

Councilor Andrew Hughes of the finance committee said a €9 million increase in property taxes would be needed to adopt the PCPA’s recommendations, which would translate into a 41.9 percent increase in property taxes in the first year .

“We can only raise property taxes to pay for this because we don’t have control over all of our other revenue streams, like labor income, that’s for sure,” Hughes said during a council meeting Wednesday. “It’s the only place where we have the opportunity to generate revenue outside of new construction, new buildings, houses and things like that.”

Hughes said a recent survey of new developments in the neighborhood shows that “we’ve been flat for five years… (and) it seems like every time we get a more positive review, there’s something else that falls away.”

Excluding equipment, vehicles and other capital investments, the city spends about $1.7 million annually to staff a 10-person police department. The PCPA report recommended hiring five additional officers for a 50 percent increase in staff.

“If you equate that to $2,023, that means an annual increase in the police budget of $850,000,” Hughes said.

Hughes said there has been a lot of research into a new police headquarters in recent years, and a substantial report on the project was provided to the city council in 2018.

“Expanding the police department to meet both legal requirements and functional needs would cost between $2.5 million and $4.1 million in 2018,” he told the council.

However, Hughes said that since it is a long-term project, a mortgage could be another option for the hypothetical expanded police facility. The presentation noted that if we use 2018 dollars (but today’s inflation rate), the cost, amortized over twenty years, would be $338,000 per year at an interest rate of 5.5 percent.

Taking into account the municipality’s growth rate of approximately 4 percent, an additional $115,000 (or approximately 3 percent tax increase) per year would then be needed to simply maintain what the municipality has now based on the PCPA report’s recommendations ; a revelation Hughes called “extremely problematic.”

More Hellertown Borough financial stats:

• According to a 2023 Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) police services survey that Hughes outlined Monday, the city allocates the second-highest percentage of its resources (or general fund budget) to its police departments, out of 38 municipalities in Northampton County.
• According to the city’s finance committee, the city’s police department did not exceed its budget in 2023, but it exceeded its budget marginally in 2022 due to officer appreciation bonuses.
• As of February 2024, the borough had the third-highest property tax rate among Northampton County’s 19 boroughs. Hughes said the county had the highest property tax rate four years ago.
• A mill from Hellertown Borough property taxes generates approximately $132,000 in general revenue.

In other business, the council discussed the upcoming summer swimming season at the Hellertown Pool. The swimming pool opens for the season on Saturday, June 8. Opening hours are 12pm to 7pm daily, weather permitting. Season passes are available for purchase at Borough Hall Monday to Friday from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM. The season ends on Saturday, August 17.

This year’s season pass rates for residents and non-residents are:

• Youth: $75 (non-resident: $121)
• Adult: $95 (non-resident: $161)
• Seniors: $30 (non-residents: $87)
• Family (up to 5 people): $200 (non-resident: $317)

More information about the pool, including season pass applications, special event dates, daily admission fees and a list of pool rules, can be found on the City of Hellertown website.