SRO scare: County drops proposal to end payment for officers

Henderson County officials decided May 22 not to withdraw partial funding for school resource officers in Hendersonville schools. The reversal comes a week after a county commissioner’s proposal to withdraw funding left city officials scrambling for solutions and parents worrying about who would provide security for students next school year.

For the past few years, the city and county have shared the cost of having the Hendersonville Police Department provide school resource officers for the county school system’s four schools within the city limits. The county reimbursed the city $250,000 for the current school year and was asked to pay the same amount for the coming year.

County commissioners discussed whether to continue that partial funding during a budget workshop May 15. County Manager John Mitchell said the idea surfaced as commissioners went through each section of the budget and considered whether to pay or unify all school resource officers under the Sheriff’s Office.

Whether the city or the county provided the service, there was never any discussion about not having SROs in the schools, Mitchell said Monday. The county planned to look at the data and research to see which option would best benefit students.

Residents took to social media to criticize the cost of bringing the positions under the Sheriff’s Office as city officials decried the timing of the discussion, which comes at the end of the city’s own budget planning process.

The city “found out last minute” that the county might withhold the reimbursement, City Manager John Connet said Monday. The issue was quickly added to the City Council’s May 22 meeting agenda, and Connet said staff members were prepared to recommend the city turn the expense and responsibility of providing SROs over to the Sheriff’s Office.

The proposal left the city “kind of scrambling,” Connet added, and was it disappointing beyond the issue of cost because officers staffing the schools had formed relationships with the students and staff.

On Wednesday, however, the county said in a news release that it would continue the funding for the coming fiscal year.

“After polling the other four commissioners, discussing this matter with our partners, and in acknowledgment of the strain this would put on the city of Hendersonville’s budget at this point in time if they decided to continue to provide the SROs for these four schools, the decision was made by the Board of Commissioners to continue partial funding of city police officer SROs for this fiscal year,” Board Chair Rebecca McCall said in the release.

The police officers serve Hendersonville High, Hendersonville Middle, Hendersonville Elementary and Bruce Drysdale Elementary.

During the May 22 council meeting, Mayor Barbara Volk said the city was pleased to learn the county would continue the reimbursement.

“The city appreciates the Board of Commissioners’ willingness to listen to the concerns of the faculty, students and parents of the affected schools,” she said in a statement.

“The Hendersonville Police Department school resource officers serve a critical role in supporting school students in our city. Their specialized training allows them to deal with a wide range of issues facing our students. We believe that it is important that HPD officers are in the Hendersonville schools to form critical relationships with our young people.”

Debate over who should provide SROs may be tabled for now, but it’s not over.

“This is a budget item the Board of Commissioners addresses every year,” the county’s news release says. “As with all programs funded by Henderson County, this line item will be revisited during the 2025-26 budget process.”

Six years of debate

After 17 people were killed in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting in 2018, the city and county began staffing each school with a dedicated school resource officer.

Two city police officers were sharing the duties of covering schools in the Hendersonville city limits, and City Council agreed to raise the tax rate by two cents to fund three more positions — one for each school and a fifth to provide coverage when an officer is out.

Commissioners then agreed to fund 14 deputies to join the nine already covering schools across the county, including two charter schools. This move prompted the city to request $480,000 from the county to cover the county schools in the city limits, arguing that city taxpayers are also county taxpayers, and that other municipalities were not asked to pay for officers to cover schools within their limits. Commissioners denied the request.

In 2019, the city asked for $201,445, which the county agreed to pay as long as HPD officers were replaced by sheriff's deputies the following year. The city declined that offer.

In October 2021, Commissioner Mike Edney proposed the agreement to reimburse the city for the cost of SROs. The amount for the 2021-22 fiscal year was $205,460, with the city paying for vehicles and equipment.

Commissioners Bill Lapsley and Rebecca McCall joined him in voting for the reimbursement, while David Hill and Daniel Andreotta voted against the measure.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: SRO scare: County drops proposal to end payment for officers