By STEVEN JUPITER
BRANDON—The Brandon Selectboard and the Brandon Budget Committee met on Monday evening for the first discussion of the FY25-26 budget season. The current fiscal year will end on June 30, 2025.
Selectboard Chair Doug Bailey had called for this meeting in order to get an earlier start on the budget process. Last fall’s budget workshops left members of the non-voting, advisory Budget Committee feeling ignored and disrespected. Mr. Bailey was on that committee before being voted onto the Selectboard in March and stated that he wanted to avoid the mistakes of last year’s approach.
Mr. Bailey said he intended these first meetings of the Selectboard and the Budget Committee to focus on conceptual discussions rather than on specific dollar amounts, with the purpose of pinning down what the town needed and wanted before trying to determine how to pay for it. Mr. Bailey said he hoped the whole process would ultimately result in a proposed budget that was “fair” and that the Selectboard, Budget Committee, and voters could all support.
Monday’s meeting was limited to a discussion of the Brandon Police Department (BPD) and the Town Offices, though the discussion of BPD accounted for almost the entirety of the two-hour meeting.
BPD was the subject of ongoing debate and sometimes conflict during last year’s budget workshops. BPD accounts for roughly 1/4 of Brandon’s overall tax burden. In FY25’s budget, which was approved only on a third vote this past spring, BPD accounted for $865K out of a total budget of roughly $3.4 million. The allocation for BPD had started out at $900K but was whittled down as the budget failed on the first two votes.
The main sources of conflict with regard to BPD last year were the K-9 program, the need for new police cruisers and the possibility of purchasing electric vehicles, and the possibility of hiring an additional police officer in order to provide 24/7 police coverage.
While the Selectboard initially eliminated the K-9 program to save money, it was restored to the budget after constituent pushback. But the two cruisers that had been planned for FY25 were removed and only an advisory question about hiring another officer appeared on the ballot (the majority of voters stated they would approve of the hire).
On Monday evening, BPD Chief David Kachajian addressed the Selectboard and the Budget Committee to give an overview of where BPD currently is.
According to Chief Kachajian, the department was down 3 officers when he began at BPD in 2022, and morale was low. Now, in fall of 2024, the department has 6 full-time officers plus the Chief, making Brandon one of the few towns in the state to boast a fully staffed police crew.
Moreover, Chief Kachajian stated that as of July 1, 2024, BPD is providing 24/7 coverage with existing staff, having switched from 10-hour shifts to 12-hour shifts. The change also allowed the department to end its practice of officers driving home in police cars for “on call” shifts.
The 24/7 coverage has greatly increased overtime pay, though inadvertently. According to Chief Kachajian, the new scheduling has officers working 48 hours in one week and 36 the following week. Since the officers’ pay period is two weeks, this works out to a total of 84 hours every pay period. But the town’s contract with the Police Union stipulates that overtime is calculated per week and not per pay period, so the amount of overtime is 8 hours per pay period (because of the week with 48 worked hours) rather than 4 hours.
Chief Kachajian stated that he understands that this situation is not sustainable for the town and that he was exploring options with Brandon Town Manager Seth Hopkins. Mr. Bailey added that the current set-up would likely cost the town over $150K in overtime pay for the year vs. the $19K that had been allocated in the budget.
The 24/7 presence of on-duty officers in Brandon has been at least partially responsible for the increase in drug arrests this year, said Chief Kachajian.
“Lots of drug deals were happening in the open, but we didn’t have officers on duty to see it,” he said. He also attributed the increase in drug arrests in Brandon to the intensification of policing in Rutland City, pushing drug dealers out to nearby communities. Brandon’s K-9 officer, Guinness, has also been extremely successful in discovering illegal narcotics in cars, helping BPD confiscate over $100K in drugs this year.
Chief Kachajian noted that the increased police presence in Brandon was also having a positive effect on traffic accidents, since BPD officers were stopping more cars and thus diminishing dangerous driving.
The Chief also stated that BPD has generally seen a significant uptick in calls for service in 2024 compared to 2023.
The discussion turned to police vehicles. BPD currently has 5 police vehicles, of which 3 are nearing the end of their useful lives and should be replaced, according to the Chief.
Several members of the Committee and the Selectboard expressed their desire for a capital plan that would allow the town to look ahead several years to know what assets and equipment would need to be replaced at what time. The town currently does not have such a plan and equipment tends to be replaced only when circumstances absolutely demand, causing the town to scramble to figure out how to pay for the expense.
Board member Tim Guiles differed from other members of the Board and Committee in that he has long advocated for a smaller police force in Brandon. He questioned whether BPD’s current staffing provided the correct “level of service” for the town.
Chief Kachajian replied that the U.S. Department of Justice recommended an even larger police force for a town of Brandon’s size.
Board member Heather Nelson suggested that the “level of service” could perhaps be determined by voters, if options were given on the ballot for different levels of service with their attendant costs.
The discussion of the Police Department took up all but 15 minutes of the allotted two hours, leaving little time for Town Clerk and Treasurer Sue Gage to speak about the needs of her department. But she did state that she’d like to see a 5-year capital plan and even a 5-year budget, as opposed to the year-by-year approach currently taken by the town.
The next budget meeting will be held on Monday, September 30 at 7 p.m. at the Brandon Town Hall. Topics will include the Highway Department, the town manager, and community development.
