NORWAY – Police Chief Robert Federico has proposed a $444,805 budget for 2008-2009 that includes money for another patrolman to do drug enforcement, work in the elementary school and to patrol the town when needed.

The recommendation includes elimination of the four-person reserve force, a move that Federico said would decrease the police budget by about $2,000, not including the cost of benefits, which come out of another budget.

The request, which is $21,851 more than this year, was made to the Budget Committee and selectmen Wednesday night as budget hearings began for all town departments.

“I’m hoping that this will be the best of worlds for all of us. For about $14,000 more we can have three positions wrapped into one,” Federico explained.

The recommendation was not supported by Town Manager David Holt because of budget constraints. He has recommended a police budget of $430,164. “I don’t think it’s the year to do it,” Holt said of the additional staff position.

The chief told the Budget Committee and selectmen that the new officer would primarily be responsible for drug investigations, a responsibility that he believes local police are already taking care of, rather than the tri-town resident drug agent hired by Norway, Paris and Oxford last year. Norway supported the position in fiscal 2008 with $17,000.

“Nine months is enough time to produce what they’re going to do. I haven’t seen any arrests,” Federico said.

The chief said that not only have Norway police been responsible for the successful drug arrests during the past year, but they have returned more than $1,300 in drug money to the town’s general fund.

The resident drug agent has not made one drug arrest in Norway or had any drug money returned to the town, according to Federico.

Federico said he has no say in whether the drug agent comes to investigate a situation. All he can do is give the agent the information to act on.

“There is clearly a need to focus investigations on drugs. I’m not convinced the resident drug agent has met these needs. We’ve only had 10 reports in nine months, and he did not initiate any cases. We’re still doing the majority of the work ourselves. … It’s not a very efficient way for us to take care of the situation,” he said.

Federico said the additional patrol officer would also spend some time in the Rowe Elementary School, a move that has been successful this year on a trial basis in addressing specific problems within a classroom or individual student. Additional time would be spent filling vacant patrol shifts, including the estimated 22 weeks of vacation time used by other officers each year.

Federico said that calls for services have increased by 20 percent over the past few years, but staffing has remained unchanged, and he is already down several patrolmen.

The department has six of its eight positions filled: Chief Federico, Detective Gary Hill, Sgt. James Ventresca, Patrolman Warren “Duffy” Ellsworth, who is on sick leave, and Patrolmen Holly Poulin and Ron Cole.

Besides the new position, Federico has asked that a vacancy on the staff be filled, a request that Holt said he struggled with because of budgetary constraints but in the end agreed to recommend.

The Budget Committee and selectmen will meet again next week to continue department budget reviews. They are expected to make recommendations next month.