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PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. Discussions to share police services with Mount Pleasant and Westchester County have stalled, and Pleasantville will continue to run its own department, according to Mayor Peter Scherer.
"We spent the better part of the last 18 months talking with our neighbors in the town of Mount Pleasant as well as the county about ways we might reconsider different police services," Scherer said. "At the moment, the best opportunity that exists for us, this day, is to run our own police department."
Talks reached a dead end with Mount Pleasant because, on paper, the savings were not substantial, Scherer said. Discussions ended with the county because he was not satisfied with the level of services offered.
"The county has not been able to return to us the kinds of outsource services that they provided to the town of Ossining," Scherer said.
The 19-member Pleasantville police department is made up of one chief, one lieutenant, four sergeants, two detectives and 11 patrol officers. It is part of a public safety department that operates on a $3.1 million budget.
The approved spending for Pleasantville in 2012-13 totals $13,276,568, and the tax rate is 2.87 percent, which complies with the state-mandated 2 percent tax cap, according to Village Administrator Patti Dwyer. Scherer, however, worries the village will not be able to offer the same services and stay within the cap in the future.
One of the realities we confront is that unless we decide not to do something that we currently do, there arent any easy masterstrokes that are going to save us a significant amount of money," Scherer said.
With shared police services looking unlikely, he said the village will continue to look at other departments and services that could be reduced.
"Over time, were more than happy to get everyones comment, and, in fact, actively encourage everybody to let us know whether you think theres something the village does that in the future we could consider reducing in some way," Scherer said.
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