Corbin City Commission votes to eliminate four officers from police department

Police officials and members of the community attended Monday’s meeting of the Corbin City Commission to speak out against the plan.

Corbin Police Chief David Campbell said his department remains in good shape even after a second officer resigned Monday night and the city commission approved City Manager Marlon Sams’ recommendation to eliminate the positions held by Kyle Gray and Jonathon Dean in an effort to balance the city’s budget.

"None of us gets any joy out of this," said Commissioner Joe Shelton, who made the motion to accept the recommendation. Commissioner Suzie Razmus seconded the motion. Commissioners Ed Tye and Freddy "Bruce" Hodge, along with Mayor Willard McBurney also voted to approve the motion.

Three officers were facing the elimination of their position. However, Sams notified the commissioners that Officer Lonnie Sawyers had tendered his resignation.

“With patrol, it puts us a little bit below where we should be,” Campbell said, noting that he wants to have at least three officers on duty at any given time.

However, with 18 officers and two detectives, the department is much better off than when its lowest point.

“We had been down to 11 officers at one point,” Campbell noted.

Campbell added that if his officers reach a situation where there is no backup available, he is just one phone call and a couple of minutes away.

“I can help out,” Campbell said.

The meeting was attended by a large contingent of citizens. Following the vote, several of them began questioning the commission concerning the reasons for the decision. Sams explained these are not temporary layoffs, but a reduction in the police force from 24 to 20 officers, including Campbell and Assistant Chief Bruce Rains.

Shelton said this was not a spur of the moment decision, but something that the commissioners had been considering for the last six to eight months as they sought to remedy a $355,000 shortfall in the police department’s budget.

The bulk of the budget goes toward salaries, including the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Officer, health insurance and gasoline for the cruisers.

McBurney previously explained that in an effort to bring the department’s pay more in line with neighboring departments, the new scale was adopted, giving automatic raises when officers meet specific goals such as completing police academy training or getting promoted. However, the problem became clear when officials learned that under the new scale some officers were making $60,000 or more, annually with overtime pay.

With the department short three officers at the time, overtime was easily available.

In an effort to correct the problem, a municipal order was issued in July 2013 to freeze salaries.

Campbell said, unless something in the budget changes dramatically, salaries will remain frozen for the next three years.

As to ways to curb fuel costs, several individuals suggested putting two officers in each vehicle and/or having officers leave their cruisers at the station.

Campbell said among the issues with two officers in a cruiser is transporting a prisoner to the Knox or Whitley County Detention Center takes the officer out of service for approximately one hour.

“You don’t want two officers going to jail,” Campbell said. “They need to be out patrolling.”

As to the officers taking the cruisers home, Campbell said those who live outside the city pay $1,000 per year to do that. In addition, several officers live near Barbourville and Williamsburg. Those officers may take a prisoner to the detention center on their way home, freeing up an officer on duty.

Officers who are in their cruisers may be called to duty before they reach the station.

“We had two calls for motorist assists that were handled by officers coming to work this morning,” Campbell noted in an interview Tuesday.

Another citizen asked where the revenue generated by the taxes on the sale of alcoholic beverages within the city was going.
Sams explained that brought in about $800,000, which was used toward the police department and Corbin Alcoholic Beverage Control. The police department’s budget for the fiscal year that ended June 30 was $2.3 million.

McBurney noted that the on-going fight with Knox County over splitting the occupational tax revenue is one of the things that put the city in this position, as the city is not receiving that revenue.

Employees working in Knox County pay one percent of gross earnings while businesses pay one percent of profits.

A similar tax is in place in Whitley County. However, Corbin and Whitley County officials have an agreement that allows the city to keep 75 percent of the revenue collected from the occupational tax generated within the city.

Knox County officials have spurned attempts to reach an agreement with Corbin.

Knox County Judge-executive JM Hall said previously that if the county was forced to turn over that revenue to Corbin, it would be forced to drastically cut services and lay off county employees.

Legislation by Sen. Stivers, which gave Knox County 100 percent of the tax in question, was enacted in 2012 and set to expire this year. However, Stivers added the amendment to a new bill in the final hours of the 2014 regular session of the General Assembly. The moratorium now remains in place until July 15, 2016.

Sams acknowledged that Corbin could elect to stack its occupational tax on top of the Knox County tax in order to bring in additional revenue.

However, it would have to enact the tax increase citywide, meaning the end of the agreement with Whitley County.

Several other residents voiced their frustration with the commissioners, noting how hard the officers had work, and, if anything, the city should be hiring more officers.

"I hope you can forgive us," Shelton replied.

Gray and Jonathon Dean’s positions will be eliminated effective Sept. 5.