BUSTI - Negotiations continue between town of Busti and village of Lakewood officials on how much each municipality should pay for the Lakewood-Busti Police Department.
Jesse Robbins, town supervisor, and David Wordelmann, village mayor, met in July as part of the negotiating process. Robbins said the discussion went well.
''We are gaining. We still don't have a number yet. We've got all the formulas in place to set a number,'' he said.
Robbins said the formula the two sides are working on involves how many calls the police department answers in both the town and the village. Based around these numbers, a formula will be calculated in hopes of determining a fair amount for each municipality to pay for police services.
''I need to take the formula back to the (Busti Town) Board and see what they think,'' Robbins said.
Robbins said John Bentley, Lakewood-Busti Police Department chief, has been attending the meetings between both municipal officials.
''If we have a question about why they do this or why they do that, he has been there to answer them,'' Robbins said. ''He has been very helpful.''
Robbins said, so far, in the negotiating process, no town or village attorney has been involved.
The town supervisor said, last month, after the Busti Town Board meets Monday both sides will talk again to continue negotiating. An exact meeting date has not been set.
Several calls from The Post-Journal to Wordelmann about the negotiations have not been returned. However, during the last Lakewood meeting, July 23, the mayor said village officials are waiting for the Busti Board to meet Monday to discuss its proposal. He also said the two sides continue to progress toward reaching a deal.
Wordelmann has previously said village officials are expecting town residents to pay more for police services. Right now, Lakewood pays 73 percent of the budget while Busti pays 27 percent. The Lakewood-Busti Police Department budget, with pension and insurance costs, is around $1.3 million a year.