Brockport police chief requests investigations of a village court

Brockport police chief requests
investigations of a village court
BPD leader believes revenue would be generated

Brockport's Chief of Police Dan Varrenti requested the village look into the option of creating its own village court. He raised the idea during the March 6 board meeting.

"Right now, village taxpayers pay 100 percent of the cost of the village police department," he said. "The taxpayers fund the police department while the Town of Sweden court system reaps the benefits of the tickets that we issue and the fines and surcharges associated with those tickets."

Varrenti said it had come to his attention that other municipalities have implemented their own village courts as a way to offset increases and some of the expenses associated with paying a police department.

In a letter given to the mayor and trustees on March 2, in response to a comment from the mayor that the "numbers didn't look good" for the village's budget, Varrenti proposed the idea of creating a village justice court. "I think this is no longer just an idea but should be a priority for the community," Varrenti said.

He said it was incumbent upon department heads to use whatever means necessary to obtain revenue. In a phone interview, Varrenti said, "You can't get blood from a stone and if the options come down to raising taxes or cutting services, clearly anyone can reduce services or raise taxes but we need to look at ways to increase revenue and a justice court in the village could do just that."

In his letter to village officials, Varrenti wrote that the department has averaged 1,497 moving violations of vehicle and traffic law. Fines imposed from these tickets are realized by the State of New York and surcharges are given to the Town of Sweden, he wrote. "No revenue is realized from the village where the infractions occurred," he said.

In a phone interview following the meeting, Trustee Maria Castaneda said the village, in fact, does receive revenues from the tickets issued by the village police department. "Figures given to me by the Town of Sweden show that the village received $56,240 in 2005," she said. "I just don't feel the numbers the chief presented us with are representative. The figures he presented are misleading."

Castadeda said once Varrenti presented village officials with the figures in his letter she became concerned with their accuracy and went to the Town of Sweden for clarification of the figures.

Varrenti's figures indicated the village would reap a financial benefit while figures obtained from the Town of Sweden, show their court posted a $36,914 loss in 2005.

"I implore the board to explore this proposition," he said.

"The town doesn't receive 100% of the fines or surcharges that are posted," Castaneda said. "And the village couldn't impose a separate surcharge in addition to the others."

Castaneda said the idea of setting up a justice court was not the way to generate revenues and help balance the budget. "We really need to analyze every department and look at every line item when it comes to the budget."

At the board meeting, Mayor Mort Wexler said he asked the village manager to look into figures from other municipalities and that information could be brought back to a future meeting. "There are pros and cons to the process of setting up our own court," he said. "We do presently get some money from the Sweden court."

Other issues raised by Wexler were the costs associated with opening the building for court night such as heat and lights, lack of parking and lack of space for lawyers to meet with their clients.

"All I ask is that we look at this with open minds," Varrenti said at the meeting. "I think we could realize a financial benefit from our own court system. I also think that violators in the village should be held more accountable for their actions and if the fines were coming back to the village they would be paying a debt toward the community in which (violators) committed the infraction."

Varrenti said he didn't bring up the idea of a village court as a way to hurt the Town of Sweden taxpayers. "I work for the village and I am just looking at any and all ways possible to help defer the costs of the department."