Dear Editor,
Thank you for reaching out to me, so that I can correct many inaccuracies for the readers of the Yorktown News, that are circulating regarding funding for School/Student Resource Officers provided to the Lakeland Central School District by the Yorktown Police Department and the Westchester County Police Department. The Town thought it would be best to correct this misinformation.
To begin, the Town never provided funding for SRO’s that are members of the Westchester County Police Department . It has always been the Lakeland Central School District’s responsibility. The School District is able to raise funds for SRO’s directly through taxation. School taxes already account for approximately 70% of the yearly property taxes that each property owner pays.
At one time, the Town did split 1/3 of the cost for an SRO for a Yorktown Police Officer (not a County Officer) and only served Lakeland Copper Beech Middle School. The Town stopped funding the 1/3 cost of the SRO after providing significant notice to the School District, since the cost of an SRO is the responsibility of each School District . The Town does not pay for an SRO for any other school districts that serve students from the Town of Cortlandt. This is why you pay separate school taxes. The Lakeland Central School District’s website specifically states that “[d]district students live in six different towns: Yorktown, Cortlandt, and Somers in Westchester County; Carmel, Philipstown, and Putnam Valley in Putnam County ”. To the best of the Town’s knowledge, besides the Town of Yorktown, the Town of Cortlandt is the only other municipality who ever contributed for the cost of a Yorktown Police Officer as an SRO , which we do not believe was ever mentioned as part of the presentation made by the Yorktown Police Chief to the Lakeland School Board.
To conclude, the Town of Cortlandt was never invited to participate in negotiations between the Lakeland Central School District and the Westchester County Police Department , but the Town of Cortlandt notes that it had no problem entering into its own new 5-year contract for policing services with the Westchester County Police Department beginning in 2025. In addition, the Town only ever contributed to 1/3 of the price of the Yorktown Police Officer located in Copper Beech Middle School.
In sum: All the other 5 School Districts in the Town pay for their own SRO’s, and this has never been an issue. It is unfair for Town residents in other parts of Cortlandt to contribute towards the cost of an SRO serving only one school out of the five school districts that residents from the Town of Cortlandt attend. Cortlandt residents that attend Copper Beach support the SRO there via their school taxes. Cortlandt residents in the Henrick Hudson School district support the SRO there. They shouldn’t also pay for Copper Beach, and vice versa. Each school district taxes and pays for their own staff.
-Richard Becker, Town of Cortlandt Supervisor
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