By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Village of Darien board approved an amended contract with the City of Delavan to continue to provide police services to the village on Jan. 20. The board may look to renegotiate in the future.
The city has been providing police services since 2012. The negotiation between the city and village for the current contract, which began on Jan. 1, has been going back and forth. What the village approved on Jan. 20 was a counter offer from the city to what the village had recently proposed.
Cost is part of the concern for both sides. The city is raising the annual increase on the cost to the village from 3% to 6% to make up some ground for the service costing the city more than 3% in recent years. Village officials are concerned that with he added increases the village will soon no longer be able to afford contracting with the city.
Another change to the contract is that it auto-renews each year unless one side or the other indicates they want out 14 months in advance. The contract runs from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, so the current one-year contract is effectively a two-year commitment. The village is locked in for 2025 and 2026 due to that language.
The board decided that since the contract has already begun and the village has already begun paying for it, it would be wise to accept it for now. Also, if the negotiations broke down, it would be difficult on short notice to contract with someone else. With 14 months to consider other options, the village could take its time in replacing the city if it chose to.
Other options the board discussed included Walworth County and the Village of Sharon. President Jane Stiles cautioned that if the village contracted with the county it would lose its municipal court and the revenue that comes with it. She also said that as the cost of the contract increases in the future and approaches $1 million per year it might make sense to consider reinstating the village’s own police department rather than paying that much to contract out the services.
The agreed to contract will cost the village $717,076 in 2025. Trustee Kevin Atkinson did say there were some good benefits of partnering with the city. Stiles made the motion to accept the amended contract with the intention of renegotiating for the 2027 budget year.
