Ben Avon Borough currently contracts our police services from Ohio Township. Our existing 5-year police services contact is in effect through 2026. Earlier this year, Ohio Township requested that the current contract be opened and re-negotiated due to increased costs they are experiencing related to the delivery of police services. Our contract with Ohio Township provides the ability for Ohio Township to open the contract if these increased costs exceed 20% in a given year.
Since this request was made by Ohio Township, Ben Avon Borough Council has been doing our proper due diligence in this matter including reviewing financial information related to Ohio Township's costs of police services, and negotiating the proposed terms, conditions and fees proposed for the new contract. We are also exploring other options that may available to the Borough to provide police services to our residents at a level that meets our communities needs and is in alignment with the costs of police services in neighboring communities, in our region, and in the state. This is the same level of due diligence we do with all contacts in the Borough which is a fundamental requirement of our position as your elected officials.
When negotiating contracts, it is often difficult to share all relevant details due to the ongoing nature of such deliberations. However, we would like to share the following details to keep our residents up-todate on the status of these discussions.
- The current proposal offered by Ohio Township includes an increase in annual cost to Ben Avon to $688,040 by 2028. This represents an increase of 135% ($395,000) for police services compared to our current annual cost.
- As a result, police services would represent 40% of the Borough’s annual budget. Police services account for 22% of our budget today.
- This additional budget cost will translate into a median tax increase of $552 for Ben Avon property owners. Half of property owners with lower assessments will pay an extra $342 a year on average. The other half, with higher assessments, will pay an extra $795 per year on average. That is a 63% increase over current taxes.
- Analysis of financial data provided by Ohio Township indicates an overall increase in their police services costs of 13% over each of the past two years. We are currently working with Ohio Township to better understand the significant difference between their actual cost increases and the increases in the contract proposal.
- Another area we are investigating is the overall cost of police services proposed for Ben Avon as it relates to other communities being served by Ohio Township. The cost figures that have been provided to Ben Avon indicate that our overall, per capita and per service call costs for police services will be higher than Emsworth, Kilbuck, Ben Avon Heights, Aleppo and Ohio Township. We want to ensure that the cost of police services is fairly distributed across the communities and commercial properties serviced by Ohio Township.
Borough Council plans to provide an update related to the ongoing negotiations with Ohio Township during our October Borough Council Meeting. The October meeting will be held at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, October 17th at the Ben Avon Borough Building.