Police Chief John Nikitopoulos told the Board of Trustees on April 9 that the body-worn camera program trustees approved last month will impose a steep increase in workload on a department already stretched thin by accreditation requirements, while trustees deferred a decision on the chief's request for additional officers in favor of a staffing study.
The chief had requested three additional officers and one promotion — a new sergeant position — at a salary cost of $248,000, not including benefits. Village Manager Bryan Healy did not include those positions in the proposed 2026-27 budget, citing the need for an independent assessment.
"Anything that goes to trial, they're gonna be looking for the cameras both in the car and on the, you know, the body worn,"
[source][5:50] the chief said, explaining that even routine two-officer responses will require downloading and processing video from multiple cameras. Most accredited departments, he noted, have dedicated staff assigned solely to camera data management.
The Axon body-camera contract begins June 15, and the chief said he hopes to have cameras deployed by October. Healy is currently negotiating camera-policy impacts with the police union, a mandatory bargaining topic.
The chief warned that without additional staffing, overtime will need to rise. He pointed to "the cost and the time that we're gonna have to deal with with discovery and everything else"
[source][4:25] as costs that will increase exponentially once the cameras are operational. He had asked for a $25,000 increase to the overtime line beyond what the manager proposed.
Healy noted that the salaries alone for the requested positions would have added $248,000 to the budget. Instead, the board plans to commission a staffing study to evaluate the department's long-term needs — an expense Healy called a fraction of the salary costs, but one that would provide a blueprint for sustainable growth.
Deputy Mayor Len Simon asked that the study specifically account for body-camera costs after the federal grant funding expires in two years.
Trustee Nora Nicholson, who serves on the Police Advisory Committee, said the department has been requesting additional officers for several years and that the camera program adds another layer of workload. She said the board needs a clear cost estimate of what the program will mean year over year, and suggested that if additional staffing is needed, it could be addressed through a mid-year budget amendment.
The chief also described the strain of the Lexipol policy-management program, which costs $14,000 annually. The accreditation workload has been heavy for command staff. "we can barely keep up with, you know, what we're doing,"
[source][15:45] the chief said, noting that sergeants have been assigned additional collateral duties as a result.
Healy stressed that ongoing costs will persist after the grant runs out. "this is not a one time purchase. Right? This there will be ongoing"
[source][11:45] costs for data storage, maintenance, and eventual camera replacement, he said.
The village-funded police overtime budget is set at $350,000 for 2026-27, up from $330,000 the prior year. The chief noted that if the department had more officers, it could reduce overtime spent filling gaps when officers call out sick.
Trustee Maria Slippen was absent from the meeting. Healy relayed her questions about overtime costs and the hours officers spend teaching in the schools, which the chief estimated at approximately 200 hours per year across all three district buildings.
Fire department faces recruitment crisis
The volunteer fire department presented a budget that rose only about $10,000 from the prior year, but the restrained spending masked a deepening concern: the department is struggling to recruit and retain volunteers.
"we're doing more with less every year. And guys are getting burned out."
[source][49:55] Fire Chief Chris Colombo told the board. A second fire chief said the department now has about 40 interior firefighters — those trained for search and rescue and fire suppression — down from a roster that once numbered around 200. Membership now stands at roughly 70 to 80, he said.
The training requirement is a major barrier. Minimum training for exterior firefighting now requires 147 hours. Village Manager Healy described the challenge from a prospective volunteer's perspective: "for somebody in my age group, you know, who's working full time trying to pick up extra hours to save for a house or something like that. And then to say, oh, well, you have to go three nights in every and all day on Saturday for six months to training."
[source][58:50]
The department's membership has a barbell age structure — heavy with members in their late teens and early twenties and those over fifty, with few in between. Multiple chiefs noted that volunteers now come from as far as Buchanan, Montrose, and Verplanck, drawn by personal connections rather than residency.
Trustee Stacey Nachtaler floated the idea of investing up to $75,000 in a targeted recruitment and retention campaign, calling the volunteer shortage something that "keeps me up at night as far as, wow, you know, if we ever had to go to a paid kind of career model, you know, we're talking millions of dollars in increase in property taxes."
[source][46:10] Nachtaler, who has a background in marketing, said even a modest investment could help avoid a structural shift to a paid model.
The village is $113,000 under the state tax cap, giving trustees some room to fund a recruitment initiative. The board also recently advanced a proposal to make new affordable housing units available to first responders.
EMS budget rises on contract costs
The volunteer EMS squad presented a budget increase of approximately $42,000, almost entirely driven by rising personnel contracts. The department now employs one EMT around the clock and a second during weekday daytime hours — an arrangement that began in early 2025 to ensure adequate daytime coverage.
The new EMS headquarters is approximately 97 percent complete, with finishing work remaining in the washroom and storage areas. The building allows paid staff to respond immediately rather than driving from home.
Call volume has risen sharply, an EMS representative told the board. "Pre pre COVID, we're doing maybe 750 calls a year. We're now doing over a thousand."
[source][71:00] "our average response time is just about eight minutes, which is kind of right along with, like, the national average."
[source][81:45] the representative noted.
The tri-community paramedic fly car contract with Ossining Ambulance is up for renewal with a roughly 10% increase starting June 1. Insurance reimbursements have remained strong, according to Proclaim, the billing service that manages revenue for the Croton, Briarcliffe, and Ossining EMS partnership.
Trustees will reconvene for a budget recap and capital program discussion later in April, where final adjustments — including whether to fund a police staffing study or a fire department recruitment initiative — will be decided.