By Sara StrongThe city of Luverne is proposing a law enforcement contract with Rock County that could save the city (or city taxpayers) more than $360,000.City Administrator Greg LaFond outlined the various proposals to county officials this week. LaFond told City Council members that the city staff would finalize a proposal for Council consideration by Thursday, June 17th. LaFond indicated the proposal would separate the dispatch services and fees from law enforcement contract services and fees. The city pays half of the dispatching costs under its current contract, which will expire in December. In addition, city taxpayers pay an additional 18 percent of the total dispatch costs through the apportionment of the county tax levy. In 2004, the dispatch budget was $329,000, so city taxpayers funded $199,000 of the total budget. Law enforcement contract fees were $447,486 in 2004. City taxpayers paid an additional $89,500 through the county tax levy. The new proposal will also ask that the inmate health care and room and board costs be taken out of the law enforcement contract formula. The city didn’t pay for the board of prisoners when it had its own department, and counties are obligated to pay for it by state law.The proposal will also ask that Luverne’s contract for law enforcement be funded by hourly charges rather than a percentage of the county’s costs.LaFond said, "State statutes require sheriffs to provide emergency communications. … The Sheriff’s Department can’t operate without dispatch and the question is, why are city taxpayers paying a premium tax for the services?"The city has maintained that its residents already pay county taxes, and that, combined with contract costs cause city residents to pay 60 percent of the county’s law enforcement and dispatch costs.LaFond said about dispatching, "We didn’t do this in a void, we did a survey of 113 municipalities."Ninety of those do not pay additional direct charges for dispatch services. Luverne was one of 23 municipalities that pays additional direct charges for dispatch services.LaFond reminded the City Council what staff has found during its research into saving money in all contracts. The Council had seen the information before, but the presentation combined all the information for review before further negotiations with the county.The full meeting will air on PrairieWave’s public access channel at 8 p.m. Friday, June 18; 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 23, and 8 p.m. Friday, June 25. The city will also make available tapes of the presentation at City Hall and the library.The county will respond to the latest proposal, but has said it is treating the city fairly in its contracts. County commissioners said surveys and number comparisons can be skewed and that they would prefer to operate as they have to avoid changing services.
