Courtesy Photo An Alpena County deputy drives his squad car on Thursday. The Alpena County Board of Commissioners has discussed ending road patrol if a proposed property tax increase fails.

ALPENA — It is unlikely the Alpena Police Department or Michigan State Police could hire enough law enforcement officers to patrol roads throughout Alpena County if the Alpena County Board of Commissioners laid off the county sheriff’s deputies.

The county board has discussed cutting the Alpena County Sheriff’s Office’s road patrol deputies if voters deny a proposed property tax hike in August.

If the tax proposal fails, the county would need to cut about $1.1 million in spending.

If the worst-case scenario plays out and the county pink-slips its 14 road patrol deputies, that would significantly affect police response in the county, especially in rural areas, police officials told The News.

Alpena police don’t have jurisdiction outside the city and can’t write tickets or make arrests past city limits. The State Police can write tickets and make arrests throughout the state, but the Alpena Post polices five counties and increasing patrols in Alpena County could leave other counties short on police presence, officials said.

First Lt. John Grimshaw, commander of the Alpena Post, said he is confident the State Police could step up and help the Alpena County Sheriff’s Office, if needed. He said it wasn’t long ago that the county’s road patrol was pulled off the streets to work at the county jail when the county faced a shortage of corrections officers.

Grimshaw said it is never good to have fewer police on the streets, but, if needed, the State Police would do as it always has and protect the people in the Alpena area and respond to complaints.

“We have the ability to adjust resources and fill gaps,” he said. “The residents of Alpena County will always have MSP to protect them.”

Grimshaw added the State Police administration in Lansing uses historical crime and population data to determine how many troopers to have at a post and he wasn’t sure whether the post’s roster would change if the county lost deputies.

Alpena Police Chief Eric Hamp said city police provide backup and assistance when the county or State Police requests it, but its primary focus continues to be on the city. He said Alpena police can do little outside of the city limits unless the county or State Police ask for help.

“Our number-one priority here is for the city of Alpena, because we can’t go out into the county to enforce the laws,” he said. “I have never been approached about providing police coverage outside of the city. One way we would be impacted is there are times we ask them to back us up and we would lose that. Plus, we don’t have the staffing to handle the entire county.”

In the Aug. 6 election, the county will ask voters to approve a property tax hike that would allow the county to recoup tax revenue it loses because of a provision in state law known as a “Headlee rollback.”

Part of the state constitution known as the Headlee Amendment automatically lowers local governments’ property tax rates if property values climb too fast, making it so property tax revenue growth cannot exceed the rate of inflation.

Governments can ask voters to override that automatic rollback so they can levy their full property tax rate.

Alpena County will ask voters to approve a 0.7-mill increase, which would help the county recapture about $800,000 a year. That increase would cost the owner of a $100,000 house about $35 a year.

Alpena County Sheriff Eric Smith said the county’s budget problems are real and will ultimately have to be dealt with, but talks about cutting police now demoralizes his staff and adds unnecessary stress to an already stressful job.

Smith said that, although Alpena does not have a high overall crime rate and sees little violent crime, his deputies and jail staff are still busy.

He said that, since the beginning of 2023 through June 6, police have arrested and booked into the Alpena County Jail 1,396 people. From that total, the Alpena County Sheriff’s Office has arrested and booked 465 people — mostly in Alpena Township, which does not have its own police force.

Smith said a mass layoff of deputies would also restrict patrol on off-road vehicle and snowmobile trails and virtually end the marine patrol, which he said is important as more boaters, kayakers, and divers adventure into Lake Huron.

He said he has confidence in residents and in the county to find a way to continue to fund his office so it can continue to serve the public.

“I have faith in the community and the commissioners to make the right decisions,” Smith said. “We have other things like transferring inmates to court and to other facilities and we stand to lose a lot if things aren’t worked out.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.