CALVERTON PARK — Citing declining revenues and rising costs, officials in this north ºüÀêÊÓƵ County suburb have voted to disband their small police department by Thursday and contract the neighboring city of Florissant for police services.
Mayor James Paunovich said the decision was the result of a “double-edged sword†of tight finances and a longstanding inability to recruit officers for comparatively low pay the city offers.
“We don’t have the money to operate the kind of police department that we want to have,†he said. “We don’t take this decision lightly, but it is in the best interest of the city.â€
The switch makes Calverton Park the third ºüÀêÊÓƵ County municipality to disband its police force this year because of financial constraints and high turnover. The others contracted such services with a nearby municipality, with the North County Police Cooperative or with ºüÀêÊÓƵ County police.
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The city’s revenues dropped by nearly half during the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting the city to take out a $200,000 loan from the State of Missouri, Paunovich said. Calverton Park owes $125,000 on that loan as of September but is asking the state for an extension because it can’t afford to pay, he said.
Meanwhile, the police department’s annual $700,000 budget accounted for roughly 75% of the city’s yearly spending, Paunovich said.
In 2022, who earned between $26,026 and $75,871 in gross pay, according to the Post-Dispatch public pay database.
The city last year reported about $1.2 million in revenues and about $1.1 million in expenses, according to a financial statement filed with the state auditor’s office. The suburb collected $194,605 in sales taxes from of a 1% countywide sales tax that is distributed via a pool among the county’s cities. Calverton Park is entirely residential and has no businesses.
The city also reported $198,324 in fines for municipal and traffic violations, long a significant source of revenue for the suburb. The city in 2022 collected $190,175 in fines, fining residents at a higher per capita rate — about $166 per resident — than any of ºüÀêÊÓƵ County’s 88 municipalities.
The city’s contract with Florissant is about $236,000 for one year of policing services, with the option to renew it annually.
The contract with Calverton Park would appear to be the first time Florissant, a city of about 52,000 and the county’s most populous, has been hired to police a neighboring municipality. The department includes 95 commissioned officers.
Officer Steve Michael, a spokesperson for the Florissant Police Department, declined comment on the contract until that city formally approves it. The Florissant City Council was expected to vote on the plan Monday evening.
Calverton Park, a mostly residential area of about 1,200 people, covers about half a square mile and is bordered by Florissant, Ferguson and Hazelwood.
In October, three Calverton Park residents filed a class-action lawsuit alleging the city illegally towed their vehicles from their homes, causing them to miss work and family events and forcing them to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars. The city alleged those residents had violated city nuisance laws because the vehicles weren’t properly registered with the state.
Vonnie Hill shares a backyard with the Calverton Police Department.
She said when she moved from Philadelphia three years ago, she was nervous about living in ºüÀêÊÓƵ. Three years later, she said she feels safe knowing there’s a police officer regularly patrolling the neighborhood.
She said she worries that disbanding of the department will ruin the security the neighborhood provides her.
“Knowing they were around made me feel safe,†Hill said. “And the neighborhood, period.â€
In recent years, Charlack, Pine Lawn, and Kinloch have each closed police departments.
In March, Velda City’s police department shut down abruptly after three officers and its chief resigned. Velda City later contracted with Pagedale.
And Bel-Nor, a city of about 1,400 people, suddenly closed its small police department and contracted with St. John for police services after three of the department’s six officers left.
Mayor Anna Vogel said Monday the city saved money by no longer paying for six full-time officers. St. John had hired some officers from the former Bel-Nor police force and maintained “steady†patrols in the suburb, she said.
“It’s been a smooth transition,†she said.