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Franklin Twp. to pay more for county sheriff's services
The Franklin Township Police Department is now paying an increase in dispatching services, which will climb by 38 percent by the start of 2013. According to Franklin Township Police Chief Jim Timko, due to the Franklin County Sheriff’s office raising the cost of their services, the township will be paying $7.44 per call in 2011 compared to the $6.26 they paid in 2010. By 2013 the township’s price per call will top out at $9.44 per call. “It seems high, but apparently the Sheriff’s costs have increased and the county commissioners have reduced his budget,” Timko said. At the Feb. 17 Franklin Township meeting Timko reported the three-year contract had been signed and submitted to the Sheriff’s Office. The trustees made the decision to continue using the Sheriff’s services on Feb. 3 – agreeing it would be at the best interest of the township. “We don’t have our own radio system, our own dispatch system, so the Sheriff supplies that service for us,” Timko said. “We pay the Sheriff for each call that is generated. So if you call the Sheriff and say, ‘there’s a prowler in my backyard,’ they take the call, they process it, they record it, they broadcast it to us and they keep track of it.” The Sheriff’s Office, which has a multi-million dollar budget, also files and maintains township records. Additionally, it reports to the FBI on behalf of the township, supplies SWAT teams, and answers dispatches if township officers are unavailable. Another two important services, said Timko, is that the Sheriff’s Office gives the township access to the jails and takes care of fatal accidents that require special equipment the township does not have at their disposal.
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