Police Chief Disappointed by Loss of Grant Funding

The loss of a Northampton County Gaming Revenue and Economic Redevelopment Authority grant that has financed two officers' salaries and benefits for the past 11 months is a blow to the Hellertown Police Department, but chief Robert Shupp says he is committed to restoring the funding in 2012.

At a Nov. 28 meeting of the gaming authority, Shupp asked for reconsideration of a grant application for $170,000 that would have continued to fund the officers' salaries and benefits in 2012.

However, , which was one of a number of grant requests it passed over.

Authority members Stephanie Kovacs, who represents Hellertown, and Priscilla deLeon, who represents Lower Saucon Township, were the only two members to vote in favor of allowing for reconsideration.

In an interview last week, Shupp explained that when the borough first applied for grant funding to hire the new officers in 2010, it submitted a "multi-year" grant application that included estimates of what the salary and benefit costs would increase to in 2012 and 2013.

The original cost estimate for 2012 was approximately $162,000, but as a result of rising health care costs, it was revised this year to $170,000, he said.

After initially approving the $170,000 grant request at its October meeting, Shupp said the discrepancy was brought to the attention of the authority, which subsequently backtracked and rescinded the earlier approval.

Shupp acknowledged that the borough did not include a budget justification for the revised figure of $170,000 in its 2012 grant application, but said he and others were under the impression that they were not required to do so, since they had included a justification in the original application for a multi-year grant.

If new budget justifications must be submitted annually, "Why do they have multi-year grants then?" he asked. "I just don't understand how they can say, 'We're going to give multi-year grants,' and then you can't give a multi-year budget."

"This (grant application) process is still not neat and tidy," he added. "They need to come up with a set of rules, and the rules are the rules are the rules are the rules."

To demonstrate to the members of the authority that there is broad public support for a beefed-up police force in Hellertown, Shupp explained that he has begun to circulate a petition among borough residents.

The petition states:

Borough residents,

Since the opening of the Sands casino we have all noticed the impact Hellertown has been hit with. Because of the impacts in the areas of traffic and public safety, Hellertown has had to increase its police force.

The increase in the police force obviously comes with increased expenses. We feel these increased expenses should be funded by the money given to Northampton County by the Sands casino. Please sign our petition asking Northampton County for the necessary funds to protect our borough with more police officers.

Thank you for your support.

Chief Robert Shupp III

As of Tuesday, a copy of the petition was on display and available for signing at , and Shupp said other copies of the petition had been distributed throughout town.

A copy of the petition will be attached to the borough's next application for grant funding for the officers, he added.

That application could be made as early as January if the authority approves a 2012 grant application schedule that would allow for an earlier round of restricted funds grants to be awarded.

Restricted funds grants are awarded to municipalities that are contiguous to the City of Bethlehem, which is the casino's host city.

Those municipalities include Hellertown, Lower Saucon Township, Freemansburg, Bethlehem Township and Hanover Township, Northampton County.

In the meantime, in order to avoid laying off the two officers on Dec. 31, Shupp said Hellertown Borough Council will likely consider attempting to fund their salaries and benefits for the first five months of 2012.

However, if money in the borough's 2012 budget cannot be found, "as things stand now both officers will be laid off," he conceded.

The bottom line, he emphasized, is that "the residents of Hellertown cannot bear the cost of these officers (over the long term)."

Losing them in the short term will stretch the department's already modest resources beyond where they should be, and will require a major revamping of schedules and an examination of logistics, Shupp said.

Having the two additional full-time officers made a big difference toward reducing the crime rate in Hellertown this year, he added.

Acknowledging that members of the gaming authority have a "tough job" in distributing casino funds via a competitive grants process, Shupp said he hopes for more clarity on that process in the future.

In addition, he said he hopes that the gaming authority will consider "the side of public safety" when it next considers Hellertown's application for funding for additional police manpower.

"The whole idea behind these grants was public safety," he said.