Deputy Dean Reich is pictured on a recent patrol shift in Ypsilanti Township, which contracts for services from the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department.

Tom Perkins | For AnnArbor.com

The financial sub-committee of Washtenaw County’s Police Services Steering Committee is currently trying to determine the cost of providing one deputy - or police service unit - to a contracting jurisdiction.

It will then recommend to the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners what it considers a fair price for contracting townships, villages and schools to pay.

Entities that contract for police services through the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department are currently paying $161,000 per police services unit, which includes a 6 percent rate hike and $10,000 in overtime costs.

Sheriff Jerry Clayton contends the true cost is closer to $159,000 per police services unit - not including overtime and the 6 percent increase - but others argue the cost is much higher. Clayton's figures show the county is currently subsidizing each position by $14,746 - while others say it's more, depending on the overhead included in the calculation.

Clayton's analysis of the cost per deputy doesn't include overhead costs such as the sheriff, his administration, legal costs, cost allocation plan and more.

How much the contracting jurisdictions pay in overhead and indirect costs is the central debate surrounding police services, officials say.

Some involved say county residents - including those in areas with their own police departments - are shouldering those costs.

One option under consideration is setting up a two-tier system in which new contracting jurisdictions would pay the full price of a PSU. Current contracting jurisdictions would likely be grandfathered in at the rates they now pay.

The department’s 105 deputies earned an average of $62,000 annually, plus a benefits package worth roughly $35,000. Its 15 sergeants earned average salaries of $75,000 each, with an estimated $45,000 benefits package. The department's four lieutenants are paid an average of $80,000 and received a benefits package estimated at $47,000.

Other direct costs are the uniform and gun allowances at $1,500 and $600, respectively, for all ranks. Direct costs also include $11,137 per deputy toward the fleet of police cruisers.

Salary and benefits make up roughly $11.7 million of the $21.5 million budgeted for policing. That figure includes 12 general fund deputies who are deployed countywide.

Factored into each PSU's indirect cost are support staff salaries, benefits, overtime and uniforms at a cost of approximately $710,000 to the county. The contracting jurisdictions pay a total of about $9,000 of those costs - or 1.3 percent per PSU.

Central dispatch costs are approximately $627,000, of which the contracting jurisdictions pay $7,300 or 1.1 percent. Other indirect services include legal costs, capital outlay, general supplies, liability insurance and technology. The contracting jurisdictions pay roughly the same percentage of each, totaling $26,780 of the overall cost.

Those figures will likely change when the subcommittee presents its findings and makes its recommendations, officials say.

Tom Perkins is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.