Almost nine years ago we wrote about proposed legislation that would have placed a fee on communities that rely on state police for police coverage (in lieu of establishing a municipal police force or banding together with other municipalities to form a multi-municipal force). At the time, the proposal would have had a population threshold (a community would have to have 10,000 people or more) and the fee was $100 per person.
The idea has come back as part of the 2017-18 proposed budget, though this time there is no population qualifier and the fee would be $25 per person. A 2014 state report looked at the issue of police coverage and classified how municipalities were handling police service. And, as we noted in the fall, the fact that the increase in fuel taxes to the motor license fund was going to state police costs, and that the state police was providing local coverage (meaning the money was not going to roads and highways) may have had a hand in addition to the budget deficit.