Additional money found for Saugus police overtime

SAUGUS – Town Manager Scott Crabtree said the Saugus Police Department will have another four to six weeks of overtime in its account, after he and Police Chief Domenic DiMella found additional money in the budget.Crabtree said they transferred the money from the department?s training budget into the overtime account.?We met with the chief and the treasurer, and the chief identified approximately $60,000 in the training account so we put a freeze on it,” said Crabtree. “The financial team did a great job. Obviously public safety is paramount.”In February, DiMella said he only had about five weeks left in the overtime account after spending between $12,000 and $15,000 a week. That money ran out last week, and DiMella said he had to deficit spend to keep the department properly staffed.?I?m basically bare-bones in my budget,” said DiMella. “It affects other aspects of the department. I submitted a budget that lets me run the department properly, but when it gets cut, important things get cut like training. You have to save money somewhere. When you have to find money ? that would be the place you have to go to save money.”Town Accountant Joan Regan said DiMella froze the training account Wednesday morning, which will help offset any overtime for at least a month. That $60,000 was then transferred to the overtime account, which had a deficit of around $12,000, leaving the department with about $48,000 in overtime.?The chief is hoping it lasts at least four to six weeks,” said Regan.Regan said if there was no money in the training account, deficit spending would not have been able to continue, and manpower and hours would have had to have been reduced.?That is not good for public safety,” said Regan.DiMella said the department is kept fully staffed with the overtime account, which is cheaper than hiring new officers. However, he said he?s hoping that will change in the future.?Officer safety is number one to me,” said DiMella. “I?ve said that to the Town Manager. I?ve said that to the Finance Committee and to Town Meeting. I think it?s the town?s priority also to make sure we have properly staffed public safety. I?ve been told that and to keep the guys on the street so that?s what I?m doing.”Police manpower will get a slight boost thanks to a federal grant DiMella said will pay for three new officers for the next three years. Two officers are currently in the police academy, and he is still looking for one more.?For three years we have three extra officers,” said DiMella. “On top of those, with the financial situation, I don?t see where the town has the capability of hiring more officers to lower the overtime. Long-range I think that would be a good idea and I think the Town Manager would like to see that happen also.”Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].