By Tom Grace
Cooperstown News Bureau
Otsego County's Public Safety & Legal Affairs Committee plans to look at how STOP DWI fine money is distributed, committee Chair Greg Relic, R-Unadilla, said Tuesday.
``We've had comments that the Oneonta Police Department is not getting its fair share, and we're going to examine that,'' Relic said Tuesday.
In New York state, fines levied against drunk drivers are returned to counties with STOP DWI programs to be distributed to agencies involved in curtailing drunk driving. For 2010, Otsego's program is budgeted to receive about $188,000.
In Otsego County, police departments eligible for funds include the OPD, the Cooperstown Police Department and county Sheriff's Office. These three "" along with the county's District Attorney and Probation offices "" split most of the income generated by fines, but there is no formula mandating how much each agency will receive.
According to Karen Liddle, who oversaw the county's program for about eight years, department allotments are determined solely by counties.
Earlier this year, Liddle, who was not rehired by the county in 2010, said she spoke to OPD Chief Joseph Redmond about the distribution of STOP DWI money. On Jan. 19, Redmond, in a memorandum to Oneonta Mayor Richard Miller, wrote that from 2003 through 2009, the STOP DWI program had disbursed $927,114, with only $66,962 going to his department, while $434,347 went to the Sheriff's Office.
``According to the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, during that same time period (2003-Nov. 15, 2009), the OPD made a total of 502 fingerprintable arrests for DWI compared to the Sheriff's Department, which made 418 fingerprintable arrests for DWI," Redmond wrote. ``In light of the fact that we made 84 more fingerprintable arrests than the Sheriff's Department, I do not believe that there should be such a gross inequity in the distribution of STOP DWI funds."
At the start of 2010, the Otsego County Board of Representatives placed Sheriff Richard Devlin Jr. in charge of the local STOP DWI program. Devlin did not dispute Redmond's numbers Tuesday and said he is open to discussing how the money is divvied.
``It's a county decision," he said, "and there is no rule that it has to be distributed by number of arrests, but I think it's a good idea if we talk about it and make sure everyone's on board.''
Redmond said he looks forward to the discussions and added, ``I have complete confidence in the sheriff.''
For 2010, the Sheriff's Office is slated to receive $80,500 from the program while OPD is set to receive $21,800. The District Attorney's Office is in line to receive $25,000 and the county Probation Office, $37,500.
In a related matter, Liddle said Otsego County's STOP DWI revenue has been over-budgeted in recent years because the Sheriff's Office and OPD report their DWI arrests differently. A driver pulled over by the OPD usually gets one ticket for DWI, and any blood-alcohol test showing that someone is over the legal limit is used to prove the DWI charge.
In reporting to her, OPD cited the number of people arrested, which nearly corresponds to the number of tickets, she said.
Drivers pulled over by sheriff's deputies often are issued two tickets, one for common law DWI (the same as the OPD) and another ticket for having elevated blood-alcohol content.
Liddle said that for years when the Sheriff's Office reported DWI arrests to her, it cited the number of tickets issued, rather than the number of persons arrested, so she said she believed that more people were being arrested than was the case.
More people being arrested would have meant more funds coming to the program, with her revenue estimates being artificially high, she said.
The miscalculation has depleted the program's reserve funds, she said, as they were used to cover shortfalls.
``It made our revenue estimate $40,000 too high for this year,'' she said.
Devlin said he has reduced the program's budget by $40,000 for 2010 by eliminating Liddle's salary and other expenses.
``This department has handled DWI arrests the same way for years, under sheriff's before me, and it's hard to believe she didn't know that,'' he said.
Both Devlin and Liddle noted that state agencies keep accurate and readily available statistics on DWI arrests.
