Local crime-fighters will have to turn in their badges at the end of the year.

Last Wednesday, village voters made their case to abolish the police department. Both the police chief and one of his officers were in uniform, but neither uttered a word.

Even village officials sat mostly silent for this part of the two-hour-long meeting.

By a six to one ratio (79-13), voters in Waterbury village opted to abolish their police department over the next year to save the $325,000-a-year expense. The entire village budget for 2017 is $390,000.

While they were at it, they essentially got rid of their village, too.

“Motion to abolish village and police department passed 79 to 13,” read Moderator Jeffrey Kilgore.

Now comes the difficult part for village residents and the trustees.

The village government’s fiscal year follows the calendar, so the village and the police department are already more than two months into their budget. So, both are funded through the end of 2017.

Municipal Manager William Shepeluk said the village leases the police headquarters on South Main Street and it will cost the village more than $22,910 to break the lease.

Trustee Natalie Sherman said that, as a result of the vote to “eliminate most of the village’s government authority,” it will have to take action by Nov. 17 to shut down at the end of the year.

Village President Skip Flanders explained that the voters’ decision eventually must be approved by the Legislature, which needs at least a 30-day window to take action.

Wednesday’s vote, however, gave citizens something they wanted to celebrate immediately.

“I think what they’re doing is good,” said longtime Waterbury village resident Jan Gendreau.

What about the 13 voters who wanted to keep the police department and village government?

“We need a police department, but what we have is not effective,” Gendreau said after casting her ballot.

That was the sentiment of most people who spoke at the village meeting March 8. Some said the Vermont State Police, which already polices Waterbury on weekends, could do a better job.

Flanders told the larger-than-normal crowd that the shutdown of the village government and police department was on the agenda “because people asked at last year’s meeting,” he said. His own research shows Waterbury village voters have been discussing a town-village merger and the police department since 1961.

“We’ve been at this for some time,” Flanders said.

Now, village trustees will talk with attorneys, have discussions with the state police, and address the village government’s assets, such as real estate and bank holdings.

“The village would keep all the current owned real estate,” he told voters.

Flanders said the time between now and November is a chance to see what the changes would mean.

Village voter Kathy Grace asked how many residents live in the village. Carla Lawrence, the village and town clerk, said 1,400 people live in the village and 5,000 in the entire town.

“It’s really irked me for a long time that village people have had to pay” for the police department, and town residents outside the village do not share that cost, Grace said.

Chris Nordle, an outgoing member of the town select board, offered an amendment to slice $162,500 from the village police department’s budget.

“The need to a move to a townwide police department has been growing by year,” he said; now the village is forcing the issue.

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