Small town cuts police force to chief and secretary

BUCKNER, Mo. -- In a bid to deal with a bleak financial situation, the city of Buckner has had to cut its police force -- drastically.

"What do you do when the bill comes? You have to pay it," said city administrator Doug Brock. "With all the cuts we made, it was obvious that the only place left to make cuts was labor."

Starting May 16, the Buckner police department will consist of its chief and a secretary for a town of 2,725 residents.

Four full-time officer positions will be eliminated, but the officers can opt to become reserves. A reserve officer receives no benefits and can work no more than 32 hours a week, up to 900 hours a year.

Police chief Charles Loring said he has four reserve officers now, but expects two to leave in a month.

Because of the reduced staff, Loring plans to handle police incidents on an "on-call basis."

"Services for the city of Buckner will go down," he said.

This northeast Jackson County town has been depending on its rainy day fund to pay expenses for at least three years, city officials said. But the reserve doesn't last forever. The general fund is $86,000 in the hole, and Buckner has $213,000 left in reserve.

With the police cuts, the city expects to save $100,000 a year.

To help offset expenses, the city is also considering halving elected officials' salaries from $880 to $440 a year. And last year the city stopped publishing its newsletter. Now the water/sewer bill doubles as a city bulletin.

As for the police situation, Brock said Loring should be able to handle the workload as long as the city has enough reserves.

"He's really good at multitasking," Brock said.