Police Referral and Signing Bonus Passes - $10,000 Per Hire Who Stays Longer Than 6 Months

The slightly revolving door of the Beacon Police Department just got a golden appliqué. At the December 16, 2024 City Council meeting, the Council unanimously passed a resolution presented by City Administrator Chris White for the payment of $5,000 to a member of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA) who refers a Police Officer of New York State to the City of Beacon’s Police Department, and $5,000 to that Officer if they stay in the job longer than six months.

Salaries of Beacon Police Officers have also increased 5% since September 2024, when the Council voted unanimously to move the salaries to more closely match municipalities around the region.

Staffing Challenges

For over a decade, the Beacon Police Department has been understaffed. With 36 positions available, the department currently has 8 openings, with 2 out on injury, and 1 in the academy who is not yet able to serve on their shift. The constant demand for more officers to regularly patrol Main Street for traffic violations - either on foot or on bike or from sitting in the car - is difficult.

On August 19, 2024, Police Chief Thomas Figlia presented to the Council that the department was in what he called a “crisis,” with officers leaving Beacon for other municipalities with higher salaries. As reported by the Highlands Current, “Of the 31 police officers hired in Beacon since 2014, 12 have left for better-paying jobs elsewhere, Figlia said.”

Salary Differences

At the August 19, 2024 City Council Meeting, the Council unanimously agreed to pass a 5% raise for police salaries. The Starting Salary in 2025 would have been just over $61,000, according to the 2022-2025 PBA’s contract. According reporting by the Highland Current, salaries of the Town of Poughkeepsie were presented to Council, which showed that “a patrol officer in Poughkeepsie reaches his or her top pay of $106,414 after four years of service. In the Town of Poughkeepsie, it’s $113,300 after five years. In Beacon, a patrol officer hits the ceiling of $98,553 after six years. The 5 percent raise, which the council approved unanimously, brings the number to $103,481. The ceiling rises to $106,068 next year.” City Administrator Chris declared at the August 19th meeting before the vote that Beacon is no longer competitive with other nearby municipalities.

On August 19th, the 5% raises were passed, bringing the Starting Salary from $61,683 to $64,767 starting September 1, 2024. Then starting January 1, 2025, that would increase to $66,062, according to the Memorandum of Agreement between the PBA and the City of Beacon.

NYPD Recruitment

The hiring pool grew larger with recent changes in Civil Service law in New York State that allows Beacon to hire officers from the New York State Police Department (NYPD), City Administrator Cris stated during the meeting. “We've been interviewing a few.” He went on to voice his preference for recruiting NYPD officers: “The officers are kind of a close-knit community, and if we get one person from NYPD, that person has all of the contacts they worked with in the city and then can say they have a personal incentive to try to recruit them for us.”

Does The Referral/Hiring Bonus Combo Impact Retention?

This referral/hiring bonus combo is the latest attempt to fill the force with officers. However, it is not clear why this referral bonus would help retain an officer once hired. The bonus is paid out to the two parties after the officer has reached 6 months of employment. It would be helpful to know Beacon’s retention rate.

The public is informed of when new officers are hired or promoted, as they require a vote from Council. Retirements are also announced, as they are congratulatory and require new pension payments. But when officers are fired, demoted, or leave for another position, this development is not announced, and is reserved for Executive Session, which is closed to the public.

Workplace culture may also need some nurturing, as vacation days are encouraged to be “bought back” by the City and not used by the officers, as explained by City Administrator Chris on December 16th. He promoted vacation-days-for-cash, which encourages officers to not use their time but to sell their unused days. Workplace culture currently encourages time off for life balance and mental health. City Administrator Chris focused on getting “bodies in the door” during the meeting, a phrase which is not indicative of showing value.

Improvement to the facilities may also help. One or two budget cycles ago, then Police Chief Sands Frost mentioned the locker room at the Police Station being in need of an upgrade. With the new Fire Station across the street with the new geothermal floor, perhaps it is time for a little more comfort down at the Police Station.

With overtime being paid to members of the Highway Department to renovate the men’s 3rd floor bathroom at City Hall, perhaps renovations can be made to the Police locker room if there is another $50,000 paid by Central Hudson to Beacon to do more paving after Central Hudson completes work under the street in the Spring.

Or, if the $10,000 per new hire is not used for recruits, or sunsets on December 31, 2025, perhaps the lump sum can go toward renovations at the Police Station.

City Of Beacon's Budget Calls for Hiring 3 Firefighters, 1 Police Officer, and 1 HR Person

The 2020 budget for the City of Beacon is making room to hire more first responders and personnel at City Hall, some of which is made possible by different federal grants.

3 Career Firefighters Would Be Hired By City Of Beacon

The budget reflects the addition of three career firefighters over a three-year period in the Fire Department budget. Earlier this year, the City of Beacon received a SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) Grant in the amount of $537,423.15 in federal funding. The grant pays for 75% in the first two years and 35% in the third year. The total number of career firefighters in Beacon is 16.

1 Police Officer Would Be Hired For Main Street Patrol

The hiring of one police officer is in the 2020 budget, bringing the total patrol division to 30 officers. The Department’s total personnel would be 37, including the Police Chief, Captain and the Detective Division. “The intent,” according to the budget report, “is that this officer would be a dedicated Main Street Patrol.”

1 Full-Time Human Resources (HR) Position And City Clerk

A full-time human resource (HR) position is in the City Administrator budget for $65,000. “The main responsibility of the HR person,” according to the budget report, “will be to recruit new employees, retain and develop the existing work force, maintain all personnel files, employee benefits and compensation guidance, administration of civil service, training in required local and state policies, and assist in preparing policies and procedures.”

The budget also reflects the inclusion of the part-time Deputy City Clerk as full-time in the City Clerk budget (1410) for $18,685.

Climate Smart Coordinator Position Would Continue

The City of Beacon is on a mission to be more climate-smart and climate-friendly. Financial incentives are attached to this path, which are measured by a wide-ranging point system. The Climate Smart Coordinator stays on top of those points and looks for opportunities to gain points. According to a report from the current Climate Smart Coordinator, Beacon has 174 out of 300 points. The higher the points, the more opportunities open up. Currently, the coordinator is working on greenhouse gas inventories and alternative fuel structures. She is hunting for more points, and is feeling optimistic, per her presentation at the 11/25/2019 City Council Meeting. The Climate Smart Coordinator position is in the City Council budget for $9,500.

Summer Work Experience Opportunities For Beacon Youth

Included in the overall budget is $20,000 in the Recreation budget to work with the Dutchess County Workforce Investment Board (DCWIB) to provide summer work experience opportunities for Beacon youth.

Beacon Remains Under 2% Tax Cap For 6th Year In A Row

If you got a refund from your property tax escrow account for being overestimated, this could be why (although we’re not property tax experts, but a refund did come our way this month). Mayor Randy Casale presented Beacon’s 2019 Budget in October, and stated: “In this year’s budget our homestead tax rate shows a decrease of 1.6518% and the non-homestead rate dropped 1.8073%.”

Before presenting the complex layers of a city’s budget, the Mayor also pointed out: “This is the fifth year in a row that we have received a ‘no designation’ classification from the NYS Comptroller’s Office with a score of 5. We have an Aa2 Moody’s bond rating. This shows our tax dollars are being managed thoughtfully and responsibly. This is the sixth straight year we were able to stay under the 2% tax cap while continuing to provide the services that keep our city safe, invest in our infrastructure and improve the quality of life for our citizens.”

Anthony Ruggiero, the City Administrator, reminded readers of the 2019 Budget Presentation of the history of the tax cap: “The tax cap law established a limit on growth of the annual property taxes levied to 2% or the rate of inflation, whichever is less. As you may recall, last year the tax cap was actually 1.84%, however this year it is 2%.”

Select Increases Projected For Certain Line-Items In The 2019 Budget

Water and sewer rates will show increases: 5% for water and 10% for sewer. Said the Mayor in the 2019 Budget Presentation: “These increases will allow us to continue to make upgrades to both facilities and our aging infrastructure.“

Infrastructure upgrades have been going on in Beacon on several neighborhood streets since the summer. There was a sewer collapse on Main Street at Tioronda, which closed the street to cars for several days, and negatively impacted neighboring businesses, like Raven Rose who experienced sewage backup into the shop.

Says Emily Burke, owner of the kitchen store Utensil, which until very recently was located on the eastern end of town (she has since moved to the west end of town, with an expanded shop): “The ongoing construction certainly had an impact on all the east end businesses.”

Also significant is the retiring of Beacon’s Building Inspector, Timothy Dexter. He served the city for 36 years in several roles, including Firefighter, Building Inspector, Fire Lieutenant, Acting City Administrator, “and mentor to many,” Anthony stated in the budget presentation letter.

The position of the Building Inspector will remain, but move to the Building Department’s budget, and away from the Fire Department’s budget, where it was previously. Building Department staff will remain the same, and the number of firefighters (13) and fire chief (1) will remain the same.

There are other highlights of what budget line-items are increasing or decreasing, which you can see here in the budget itself.

Recycling Market Crash Significantly Impacts Beacon’s Budget

The City Administrator stated that Beacon will keep weekly recycling, but at a loss to what was budgeted previously. “This is significantly impacted by the collapse of the recycling industry. The City went from receiving a revenue of $15 a ton to an expenditure of $61 a ton. This, combined with the increases in garbage contracts, amounted to $99,698 increase in the general fund expense budget.“

If you need to see things visually, as a line-item, this could look like +$15/ton as income to Beacon, and now looks like -$61 as an expense. The collapse of the recycling market was predicted for years by business leaders in the recycling industry, and was triggered by the Chinese decision in January 2018 to buy almost none of the recycled paper pulp coming from the United States. (A reminder: When putting goods out for city recycling, all recyclable paper and plastic must be dry and clean. Rinsed and not soggy. Otherwise, if the plastic is coated in food or dirty, or the paper soggy, it does not get recycled.) A Little Beacon Blog hasn’t gotten an official quote on where non-purchased recycling goes if it’s rejected and not purchased by China.

Beacon Homestead & Non-Homestead Assessed Value Increased

As explained by the City Administrator in the budget presentation: “This year the homestead assessed value increased by 3.47% or $30,859,063 million. The non-homestead assessed value has also increased over last year by 9.65%, or $23,815,921. This year represents the fifth year since 2009 that the overall assessed values increased, and did so by $54,674,984. Homestead values remain more than $102 million less than it was in 2009. The non-homestead assessed value has fluctuated through the years, and while it increased approximately $23,815,921 this year, it is only the second year in a row that it has been more than in 2009.”

Public Input Scheduled For November 19, 2018

CORRECTION: This section originally stated December 3, 2018 as the Public Hearing. According to the Mayor’s letter in the Budget Presentation, that was the date set. However, the Public Hearing for the 2019 Budget was announced and scheduled for Monday, November 19, 2018.

Department heads have been meeting in workshops throughout the fall. Workshops are open to the public to watch, but not participate in. A Little Beacon Blog republishes workshops here to help increase accessibility to these videos and agendas of the meetings. The opportunity for the public to come out and contribute their opinion on the 2019 Budget was Monday, November 19, 2018 at 7 pm at City Hall. This is the white building near the train station that also houses the police station and courthouse.