CANDIA – Candia Police Chief Michael McGillen said cuts in his department’s proposed budget – which will be up for deliberation at the upcoming Town Meeting – could hinder police productivity as the department has been dealing with increases in criminal activity, and will soon likely have to deal with some commercial and industrial growth.

The Candia Budget Committee trimmed the police department’s operating budget – as proposed by selectmen – by about $60,000.

Budget committee Chairman Brian Fortin said the police budget represents about a third of the town’s overall operating budget, and said the committee has labored to meet the department’s needs while also appeasing taxpayers.

The committee is recommending a budget of $608,189, which is about a 1.7 percent increase over the department’s current budget. McGillen had gotten support from selectmen to fund salaries for six full-time officers, plus the chief, along with four part-time officers and an annual request for a replacement cruiser. Those full-time positions were approved at the 2005 Town Meeting, said McGillen, though the department has recently been short one full-time officer since one recently took a job in neighboring Auburn.

On Dec. 29, the budget committee cut the proposed full-time wage line to reflect five full-time positions, or the current full-time staffing level, said Fortin. After a Jan. 10 public hearing, the committee voted to fund all six positions, but decreased the selectmen’s suggestion for part-time positions. Selectmen had requested $30,000 for part-time police wages, and that

number was trimmed to $17,000. The committee also zeroed-out a $24,500 request for a replacement cruiser, which McGillen said his said the department requests every year.

“I’m not sure that’s a good way of doing it,” McGillen said. Fortin said the committee made those changes after a presentation from McGillen and considerable input from residents.

“About half the people supported the police chief and his presentation, and I’d say about half didn’t support having another officer,” Fortin said.

McGillen said the vote came after he and other residents left the public hearing thinking it was completed.

As of press time, McGillen said he still hadn’t heard any “official” notice of the budget committee’s most recent decisions. He said if voters approved the budget as now proposed, he may have to come back in upcoming years with even greater requests.

McGillen said the department’s growth in recent years has been necessary as it deals with more criminal complaints, like the recent rash of home burglaries. Proposed commercial and industrial developments – like the Route 101 Exit 3 industrial park and the Liquid Planet Waterpark – could also tie up officers having to deal with more traffic issues, McGillen said.

“When you have guys in the office working on cases and doing followups, you don’t have guys on patrol,” McGillen said. Fortin stressed that the police budget is a “bottom line” budget, and said selectmen have authority to transfer funds from one line item to another, even after the budget is set at Town Meeting.

He said the committee, in reviewing the police budget, tried to strike “a balance between safety and financials.”