Law Enforcement: Major Priority for the City of The Woodlands
From The Woodlands’ inception, top quality security has been a priority. Success in achieving this objective is reflected in our topnotch fire department and in our superior law enforcement, where the Township pays Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department (MCSD) $14 million per year to provide 92 full-time patrol deputies to supplement the 19 deputies and specialty services the county provides paid by our county taxes.
If incorporation is approved, the Township has budgeted for implementation of a comprehensive 5-year plan to transition from our current contracted law enforcement structure to an optimal hybrid structure that would rely primarily on a 175 person city police department, backed by the high-quality specialty services MCSD offers all municipalities in the County at no additional cost. The City’s police department would replicate direct services and staffing levels provided under the current contracts. MCSD’s specialty services would provide jail, emergency communications/dispatch, major crimes investigation, K9, SWAT, crime scene investigation, crime lab, hostage negotiations and auto theft services. A full-service standalone city police department for the City doesn’t make sense because: 1) the small size of the City made specialty services extremely expensive; and 2) the opportunity to acquire high-quality specialty services from MCSD at no additional cost.
The Township’s law enforcement transition plan consists of two principal parts. First, just like the Township conducted a successful, extensive, nationwide search for a new fire department chief in 2019 (and hired Chief Palmer Buck, with 37 years of experience in all aspects of the fire service, a proven leader with extensive operations and command experience), the interim City council will search for an exceptional, experienced police chief to lead the transition from contract law enforcement to City control and establish the City’s police department with the all essential services and support staffing. The police chief will determine the policies for successful communication and coordination between agencies.
Second, the City would implement the 5-year law enforcement transition agreement signed in late 2020 with Montgomery County establishing the orderly transfer/replacement of the 92 contract MCSD patrol deputies to the City’s payroll and the retention of the MCSD’s specialty services. Sheriff Rand Henderson and Commissioner James Noack negotiated this agreement on behalf of the county and were able to satisfy themselves that The Woodlands’ law enforcement services would remain intact and current law enforcement personnel would be accommodated.
The Woodlands has achieved the highest bond rating in the State of Texas for an unincorporated community. One reason for this outstanding credit rating is the Township Board’s proven record of producing high-level, honest, and transparent long-term budgets. Creditors, credit rating agencies and auditors rely on accuracy of these budgets, and so should we when it comes to the validity of The Woodlands Township’s Incorporation Financial Model.
So why should we believe incorporation opponents, many of whom may be conflicted by loss of advantages or power if incorporation occurs, when they essentially claim that the Township’s Incorporation Financial Model is either incompetent or deceitful? WE SHOULD NOT!
The Incorporation Model uses the same assumption methodology that has reliably produced the Township’s budgets for decades. Details supporting all the Incorporation Model’s assumptions are transparently published on The Woodlands Township’s website. Anti-incorporation groups have disingenuously misconstrued and fabricated information in the Model and applied negative or falsified assumptions to support their bogus charge that the Incorporation Model understates costs or overstates revenue by tens of millions of dollars. The fact that the opponents never checked with the Township to ensure the accuracy of their analyses suggests their sole objective was to undermine the credibility of the Model. Examples include: 1) using 2020 costs for new patrol cars instead of the 2022 costs used in the Model to create a false claim that the Incorporation Model underfunds the cost of replacing police patrol cars by $6.1 million; and 2) falsely claiming that “expectation” was that the City would have a full-service police department and the Incorporation Budget underfunds this by $4.7 million. As noted above, a full-service standalone city police department for The Woodlands doesn’t make sense.
Why would we expect those who lose power if incorporation is approved to honestly advise us on the validity of the Incorporation Financial Model? The arguments against incorporation essentially focus on scare tactics (“we don’t get a test drive” and “there are “no do-overs”) or accusations of the Township’s incompetent preparation of the Incorporation Model.
The primary reason to incorporate The Woodlands is to shift control of our future to our City.