Venditto lauds town public safety staffing

In bottom-line terms, Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto kept his promise to not expand the town's controversial public safety department.

His proposed 2012 budget increases department spending by less than 1 percent, to $4.57 million. Of four supervisors making more than $100,000 annually, three get no salary increase and the other receives a raise of less than 3 percent.

But by eliminating one supervisory position and not filling another, the town added two more unarmed security officers to the department that critics call too large and costly.

"More than ever, I'm satisfied with the investment the town has made in its public safety department," Venditto said this week.

Earlier this year, he responded to criticism of the department growth by saying it had reached its limit. From its 2006 creation to 2010, the Public Safety Department budget nearly doubled.

Under the proposed 2012 budget, full-time public safety officers, whose responsibilities include guarding town buildings and patrolling parks, will increase to 33 from 31. The town will not add to its 12 full-time bay constables, who, unlike the security officers, have police powers.

The department will continue to have about 100 full- and part-time employees. One vacant constable position will remain unfilled, freeing about $50,000. By also eliminating an $89,000-per-year general labor supervisor position through attrition, and shifting a $45,000 marine maintenance budget to a different department, most of the $217,000 for the new officer salaries and contractual raises for current officers is covered.

Salaries account for 96 percent of the department budget. Oyster Bay spends more per capita on its unarmed guards and constables than any other Long Island town. Most of the department's early growth, officials said, came from making it a 24-hour operation.

Before 2006, Venditto has said, the town spent nearly $1 million a year to contract with private security firms he deemed subpar. Since then, he said, town security officers have saved lives by being the first to respond to reports of drownings and house fires. More recently, they were prominent in responding to Tropical Storm Irene damage.

"In just those few days, public safety paid for itself," Venditto said.

But Terry Kelly, an East Norwich resident who has criticized the department and is now running for a town board spot, said too many officers remain.

"It's a redundant service," Kelly said, adding that guards still must call 911 if they see criminal activity. "There's very little value there for the cost."

Oyster Bay will hold two public hearings on its 2012 budget -- which totals $262,464,593, an increase of 7.6 percent from this year -- at Town Hall Tuesday at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.