Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

GPD Running Out Of Money For Salaries

By JOHN MILLER

There is about $23,000 left in the Gurdon Police Department budget for salaries for the remainder of the year.

However, the department has been spending about $14,000 per month to pay its officers.

This could pose a major problem for the City of Gurdon.

Gurdon Mayor Rick Smith said the GPD budget is not in good shape where salaries are concerned, and the Gurdon City Council will have to make some kind of decision on what to do. The council's biggest headache will be where to come up with more money, as there are no other sources available to draw from.

Smith said it may come down to having to cut the size of the GPD staff again this year. Last year a part time officer had to be cut from the staff.

The GPD budget also shows being slightly over in the maintenance and repair portion, but this is because a police car was wrecked. The insurance money came in to reimburse the city for the cost of the repairs.

On the other hand, Smith said the GPD's fuel and oil budget looks pretty good at this time.

There are currently six officers composing the GPD, Smith said. Four of these are listed as full time officers, with the others being part time employees. There are also two dispatchers on staff.

These officers make sure Gurdon has police protection seven-days-a-week, 24-hours-a-day. The part time officers, he said, also pull shifts as dispatchers to help augment their pay. These officers are given dispatcher pay while working the radio.

Additionally, all officers with the GPD, except one part time officer, are fully certified and have been through the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy in Camden.

Smith said there are too many things going on during weekends for Gurdon to be able to depend solely on the Clark County Sheriff's Office.

Gurdon's officers, he said, are also involved in the community. They work on preventative policing, going into the schools with a variety of programs.

"They do an excellent job," Smith said. "The people need to come out on court day to see what's going on. If they looked at the court docket, they'd see how the officers spend their time."

However, he said, the budgetary problems are ongoing and have been for many years. Different administrations have handled the situation in different ways, but these methods have always involve some sort of cap on funding.

There is, though, no cap on inflation or the cost of living, and these expenses continue to climb.

The city's revenues are also limited, Smith said.

He said attempts have been made to cut expenses in other areas, but the only option left is to reduce the size of the GPD.

This, Smith said, could mean only one officer working on weekends and having no local backup. "This would be a dangerous situation.

"The council is looking for direction from the people of Gurdon," he continued. "We need to ask if they want to decrease the size of the GPD.

"If we lay an officer off, though, they will have to find another job and certified officers with experience are in demand. They will have no problems finding other work.

"The council can only budget the money that comes in and we must live within our means."

It is a violation of state law for a city to deficit spend.