Porter Police Chief Dan Dickey will not fill an open position and reorganize the police department as part of a plan to help ensure that all town employees get a raise next year.
Those are the emerging details as the Porter Town Council Wednesday is wrestling with how it can give its employees a raise next year when the town will lose $440,000 in revenue because of property tax collection changes enacted with Indiana Senate Enrolled Act 1.
Property owners will receive a tax break on their property taxes from the law, but municipalities and school districts must deal with less revenue as a result.
“Given the changes we are facing with SEA 1, we need to be mindful of what the future is going to look like,” Clerk-Treasurer Corinne Peffers said.
A majority of three of the five Town Council members support giving all the employees a $2,500 raise for next year. Council President Laura Madigan, D-Ward 1, said the proposed salary ordinance would also grant $5,000 raises to a few select employees who are significantly underpaid compared to those serving similar roles in neighboring communities.
The money for the raises would come from the police department reorganization, along with supervisors from other town departments finding savings in their budgets.
“I know it’s not the most conservative approach, but it’s an approach I am comfortable with,” Madigan said.
Council members Don Craft, D-Ward 2, and Kelly Karriman, D-Ward 5, are also supportive. Peffers was instructed to write an ordinance that would give across-the-board raises of $2,500 and $5,000 raises to a few select employees. The salary ordinance must be voted on before the year’s end so it can take effect Jan. 1, 2026.
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Councilman James Burge, I-Ward 4, advocated for a lower raise of $1,500 for all town employees.
“It’s a perfect storm. The legislature has given us a hand of cards that nobody wants to have,” Burge said.
Burge said that he believes the state legislature is playing a “shell game” where the local governments have to figure out how to make up for the lost revenue from property taxes. It’s why he wants a lower raise to give the town more financial flexibility in the upcoming years.
Councilman William Lopez, D-Ward 3, said he wants to see the final ordinance before he makes a decision. He said he is also concerned about the town’s financial picture in future years.
Dickey, who took over as chief in July, is authorized to have 10 officers.
If the salary ordinance is approved, Dickey said his plan is not to fill an open position and go with nine officers.
Dickey said he would have the town’s lone detective, Tawni Komisarcik, periodically handle some patrol duties. He said he would also use part-time officers to fill the gap.
The plan also involves more training for his officers to improve their evidence collection and interviewing skills so they can better handle less complex cases, Dickey said.
“I truly think this will make our department more well-rounded,” Dickey said.
Dickey said he believes it is also important to increase the pay for police officers. He said the starting pay for police officers in Porter is $68,800, which is well behind neighboring Chesterton, which pays a beginning wage of $75,000.
In other business, the council approved a $6,000 contract for two Flock Safety cameras — license plate readers — to be installed in Porter.
Dickey said the cameras will be installed some time in the coming months. He said with the contract’s approval, the town will be able to access the Flock Safety network, which includes the Porter County Sheriff’s cameras that are on U.S. 12 and U.S. 20.
Public Works Director James Spanier, who formerly served as police chief, noted: “This is the wave of the future. As much as it costs, it will pay for itself over and over.”
Dickey also lauded Assistant Police Chief Tom Blythe, because it was his correct intuition that led to the capture of a suspect who had fired a gun at his ex-girlfriend at a Chesterton residence and fled, triggering an intensive search on Oct. 31. Chesterton Police Chief Tim Richardson has also credited Blythe, saying the suspect’s arrest — he was found hiding in a garage on Wabash Avenue — helped to save the Halloween Trick-or-Treat event that evening.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.