A number of residents expressed their support for the West Penn Township Police Department during a supervisors’ meeting earlier this week.

“Chief (James) Bonner is the best chief we ever had here,” according to resident Dave Martin.

The show of support - and suggestions on how the department could be better funded going forward - came after last month’s meeting when supervisors discussed cost cutting measures they asked Bonner to put in place to turn around a lagging department budget.

About 30 residents arrived at the August meeting, concerned that supervisors were planning to disband the police department. The board said it had no plans to eliminate the department and blamed the talk on rumors.

But supervisors said the department, which has a budget of just over $400,000, was about $25,000 over projected figures in July.

In order to turn the deficit around by year’s end, they asked Bonner to reduce his staff’s hours, get some coverage from Pennsylvania State Police, and cut the administrative secretary’s hours from 40 to 20.

The administrative secretary’s hours remain at 20, and since August, the department is down one full-time officer due to the resignation of Kai Appel. On Tuesday, the board accepted the resignation of part-time officer Richard Clink. Clink left the job due to personal reasons.

The cuts and resignations are helping the department get back to its projected budget, supervisors said.

“I looked at the last month, this past month, and the chief has made good strides in bringing his budget back in order,” supervisor Timothy Houser said. “Hopefully by the end of the year, we’ll be back in line.”

Prudenti, however, said he’s not comfortable with having the administrative secretary working reduced hours.

“Now, the chief instead of being out there patrolling as he should be, he’s in the office doing paperwork,” Prudenti said.

Bonner said the police budget was in worse shape last year.

“I have $6,000 more in my budget to date this year than last year,” he said. “Why was this not a problem last year?”

Hummel said he kept in contact with Bonner last year, and when the budget was close to going over, he’d ask him to “reel it in.”

He also said that a plane crash, multiple vehicle accident and other unforeseen circumstances in 2022 pushed the budget into the red.

“Up until that point in time, you were fantastic,” Hummel said.

Prudenti explained that many of the department’s biggest expenses are paid toward the beginning of the year for items like equipment and subscriptions - and that was one of the main reasons why the department was over budget.

One resident suggested printing flyers and stickers and selling them to support the department. Another said a fund should be set up for those wishing to donate. A woman said she wouldn’t mind if her taxes increased if it meant having continued police coverage.

Despite the cuts, the township has police coverage 24 hours each day.