Back to Previous Page

Law Enforcement Funding Task Force Report

On May 1, 2001, the Knox County Commissioners established a Knox County Law Enforcement Funding Task Force. The task force members originally were comprised of seven members and one alternate. One member of the task force did not attend any of the meetings and the committee decided that the one alternate would be a member of the committee.

The proposed mission of the task force was as follows:

"Review the levels of service provided by the Sheriff's Patrol and County Jail to individual Knox County Municipalities, based on available information and statistics, and develop a funding formula which connects County assessment for these services to the level of service received by each County municipality."

The responsibilities of the Task Force are to also include transportation services, detective work and KCLES support.

The initial meetings of this group were mostly for gathering information and statistics of the Sheriff's Department. Sheriff Dan Davey provided information at one of our meetings and was very helpful in explaining the services that are currently provided. He also provided us the opportunity to speak with the Deputy Sheriff and the Jail Administrator. They were also very helpful and provided us with statistics and first hand information about how the department operates. The Task Force asked for some statistics that were not readily available and they provided those as soon as they were available.

Each member of the Task Force that came from a municipality with a police force was asked to gather information from the police force in order to complete the information-gathering portion of the project. Each member reported excellent cooperation from the local police forces.

Once we had all of our raw data, we began discussing the different possibilities for funding the services. This led to many formulas and methods. Some of the methods we discussed included contract services such as some of the islands do, fee for services for the patrol and jail, funding based on population, funding based on income, and funding based on a formula considering population and valuation.

All of these methods had advantages and disadvantages. We decided early into the project that any formula we decided on would have to pass the test for accurate information and fairness to all. This became increasingly difficult, as we got deeper into our discussions. Many of the formulas appeared at first to be fair in all areas but as we got deeper into the discussions, the fairness did not exist for everyone in every situation. For example, is it fair for some towns to go to contract services and then after a few years have some of the municipalities cancel their contracts and leave the remaining towns paying for the County services? Not every town could contract services without their budget being adversely affected.

At the outset of our discussions, the Task Force fundamentally agreed that a "fee for service" formula would be accepted by the citizens and municipalities of the County as a fairer system than the current
valuation method. We generally agreed that a "fee for service" approach might be applied to other areas of County Government. We also agreed that we would need the right information in order to develop an accurate and fair "fee for service" allocation procedure.

Working with the data available from the Sheriff's Department and the jail, it is clear to the Task Force that the reports, logs and data collected currently were not intended for use as a basis for billing for services. While the data reflects time spent or activities completed by municipality, it provided little information about whether the municipality requested the service or if those receiving services were residents of a Knox County municipality. If a transition to a "fee for service" billing is to be accepted as fair, there must be a clear understanding between the County and the municipalities of how the system would work; i.e. what service would be billed directly and what costs might continue to be allocated to each municipality based on valuation or population. The current data would not allow the Task Force to develop a clear and accurate billing model that was acceptable to all members of the Task Force.

Accordingly, The Task Force does not recommend an immediate transition to a "fee for service" method of billing for the Sheriff's Department and the County Jail. Instead, the county should initiate a review and refinement to the record keeping processes of these departments in order to capture the data that we believe to be key components of a future "fee for service" billing system. Specifically, the data should include the residence of those served at the time of service (not the address on the license) and the origination point of the call to the county for service (who requested the service).

With appropriate data, a "fee for service" approach should be accepted by municipalities as fair and should provide municipalities with better information on which to make local law enforcement decisions.

We looked at modifying the current system of funding the Knox County Law Enforcement by developing a formula that split the funding between the valuation and the population. While this system looked reasonable at first, as the discussions continued, we found that it also had faults. It still did not meet the criteria that we had originally set up and that is fairness to all municipalities.

Task Force Recommendations:

1. We recommend that the County Commissioners set a time frame for adopting a fee for service methodology. Without a timeframe, a fee for service may not happen.

2. We recommend that the County Commissioners get all affected parties together and agree on proper reporting of data and compilation of data. The data collected must include at least "request for services" from the municipalities as well as current residency of individuals stopped by the Sheriff's Patrol or housed at the County Jail.

3. We recommend the usage of three or five-year averages in order to take short-term fluctuations out of any formulas developed. The use of averages also gives the towns time to adjust to changes for budgetary purposes.

4. When all affected parties agree upon a final formula, it should be phased in over time so as to minimize any large adjustments.

5. We recommend that another Task Force be formed after one year of data is collected so that a formula can be developed.

Mark Curtis, Rockland - Chairman
Greg Hamlin, Thomaston - Vice-Chairman
James Bitner, Rockport - Secretary
Rick Knowlton, Camden
Robert Dennison, St. George
Grant Watmough, Warren
Andrew Hart, Union