Commissioners decide HUNT millage allocation

Members of the Presque Isle County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved an allocation plan on how the Huron Undercover Narcotics Team millage will be distributed in the county. The measure, approved by voters last month, will generate $126,725.18 and fund the costs for an undercover officer in Presque Isle County and school resource officers in Onaway and Rogers City. The board decided November 10 to levy the entire quarter of a mill to support the officers.

Vice chairman Gary Wozniak said he attended a HUNT meeting last week to discuss its budget. “They asked every county that was supporting them to give them $15,379,” said Wozniak. “Last year we gave them that sum and an officer.” Wozniak said the officer cost Presque Isle County $52,297.

COUNTY BOARD members in Montmorency County haven’t decided if they are going to contribute to the team. If Montmorency County does make a contribution, the other government bodies would pay less. Wozniak, who was the acting chairman at the December 8 meeting, said county prosecutor Don McLennan, sheriff Terry Flewelling, and Rogers City Police chief Matt Quaine, discussed ways to properly allocate the funds. Flewelling said if the current HUNT officer from the county s

tayed in his position it would cost the county $72,000, because he is higher on the pay scale.

ACCORDING TO the plan, 75 percent of the wages for each of the school resource officers would come from the millage. The cost of the SRO in Onaway from the millage will be $31,007, while the SRO in Rogers City will be paid $36,442. Deputy Lewis Robinson, who is the SRO in Onaway, and Rogers City Police officer Matt Bisson, the SRO in Rogers City, will stay in their respective positions. The sheriff’s department would send an officer to HUNT at a cost of $41,847 that would includes benefits, wages, and uniforms.

The new deputy would be paid from the millage money and replace a more experienced officer, who will begin working for HUNT. With the expenditure split of $15,379, the budget is $2,048 less than the amount coming in from the millage. “You are not going to use all of the millage coming in, that’s what it amounts to,” said Flewelling.