GOSHEN TOWNSHIP — The trustees of Goshen and Green townships met Tuesday to discuss the terms of a contract for the Goshen Police District to provide police protection to Green Township in 2026.

Goshen Township Board of Trustees Chair Shawn Mesler said that the only matter that the Goshen trustees wanted to discuss was a potential 3% cost of living raise for the police department’s employees. Green Township Trustee Randy Chismar said he had no issues with the individual terms of the contract, aside from compensation. He said that he had calculated the police department’s total expenses after sources offsetting revenue like its contract to provide the West Branch School District with school resource officers, and reimbursements for trainings and equipment, and that Green Township had overpaid the intended 50% split of the department’s expenses and that it should receive a discounted rate this year to recoup the overpayment.

“Your total expenses attributed to township property tax was $894,000, 50% of that is $447,000, and last year [Green Township] paid $466,000, so last year we paid $19,000 over 50%. Your fund balance increased $68,000, and $19,000 of that is Green Township’s, so a 3% cost of living increase of the actual amount, which is $447,000 would bring us up to $460,000,” said Chismar. “If we divide that by 12, that’s $38,000. However, if we want to recover our $19,000 that we overpaid last year at the bottom the annual amount would be $441,798 for a monthly fee of $36,817.”

Goshen Township Fiscal Officer Michele Barratt disputed Chismar’s calculations, arguing that it did not account for expenses paid from other funds which were used to supplement the police fund. Barratt said that those omissions included $105,469.83 from Goshen Township’s ARP Fund which was used for the purchase of a replacement police cruiser, and expenses from the Police Donations Fund and Law Enforcement Trust Fund which accounted for an additional $8,182.75.

“If you put that in realistic figures, police expenses were $45,296 more,” said Barratt.

Chismar said that even with the higher expense figure “he still wasn’t sure how much of an increase” and that he wouldn’t be comfortable with a monthly rate higher than $38,500, $1,000 per month less than the $39,500 Green Township paid in 2025. Both the Goshen and Green Township trustees ultimately agreed to discuss a monthly rate of $38,500, or $462,000 per year for 2026 in their own board meetings.

In the Goshen Township Board of Trustees’ meeting later that evening, Barratt reiterated that the figures used to calculate the police department’s total expenses were incomplete, and thus the proposed rate of $38,500 per month as a 3% increase over 50% of the department’s expenses was incorrect. She said that while she understands there were additional considerations to be made in maintaining the contract, that she wanted to ensure that had been clarified. Mesler said that he agreed with Barratt’s calculations, but that the $38,500 rate was the maximum that the Green Township Trustees were willing to pay even after the inaccuracy had been explained.

The trustees ultimately voted to move forward with the proposed $38,500 per month rate.