Sheriff William Johnson, himself battling budget problems and staff furloughs, said Tuesday if he had it to do over again, he wouldn’t have announced he was doubling dispatching fees for various villages.
At the same time, he said the $25,000 he charged most villages was inadequate and increases are necessary.
Geneva-on-the-Lake, grandfathered in on an earlier contract, pays only $20,000 this year, and that will be boosted to $25,000 next year. After that, there will be at least a 3 percent hike each year, he said.
Andover and Jefferson reportedly are being dispatched by Middlefield, a village in Geauga County, although Johnson said he never has heard from those communities officially that they were ending their associations with the sheriff’s department.
Andover, Jefferson and Geneva-on-the-Lake, stating they couldn’t afford the sheriff’s initial increase request, tried to contract with Ashtabula police, but were stymied when City Council there wouldn’t approve the action.
The three villages then announced their services would be dispatched by Middlefield, although a hastily called meeting in Geneva-on-the-Lake resulted in that village staying with the sheriff’s office.
“Geneva-on-the-Lake has been in communications with me on a regular basis. The rest of (the villages), not so much,” Johnson said.
Besides those villages, Roaming Shores and Orwell were told they would be facing dispatching hikes, Johnson said. None has contacted him to say what it was doing. The only information he said he has comes from secondary sources.
He stressed all contracts are subject to negotiations and nobody had to make a decision by Thursday. They all could have stayed with his office at least until the end of the year.
He said the Oct. 1 date was merely contractional language and he didn’t want to force anyone to make a quick decision.
“I want (the villages) to make a rational decision,” he said. “I’ve relieved them of the pressure.”
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