County, village mark third police contract

Mount Kisco and Westchester County recently approved a new intermunicipal agreement to provide police services to the village, the third agreement between the two parties since coverage began in 2015. MARTIN WILBUR PHOTO

By MARTIN WILBUR

Westchester County and Mount Kisco officials commemorated the recent ratification of the new intermunicipal agreement touting the advantages in the contract that will provide the village with its police coverage through 2029.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins appeared with Department of Public Safety Commissioner Terrance Raynor and Mayor J. Michael Cindrich on Monday at Village Hall to tout the arrangement, particularly the level of resources available to the community at an affordable cost.

“The reality is that policing is expensive and municipalities should not be forced to shoulder those costs alone,” Jenkins said. “By working together, we are saving taxpayer dollars, maximizing existing county resources and ensuring Mount Kisco residents continue to receive professional, reliable police services.”

Under the contract, the village will pay up to $8,034,255 for police coverage in 2026 before any adjustments are made that could reduce that figure slightly, Village Manager Ed Brancati confirmed. For that cost, Mount Kisco will receive 17 full-time equivalent officers, three-time equivalent detectives and five sergeants, with one of those sergeants assigned to a patrol car at all times, according to the resolution the Village Board approved last month. It is the same staffing level agreed to in the contract that expired at the end of 2024.

The village was charged $7.7 million for police coverage for 2025 in an extension of the old contract for the first quarter of the year and a higher rate for the final nine months.

This is the third contract between Westchester County and Mount Kisco for police services, which started June 1, 2015. The village ceased operation of its police department then, with most of its officers taken in as county personnel, and officially disbanded it several years later. 

Cindrich said the savings by disbanding its department has been obvious, as the village spent about one-third of its budget on law enforcement at the time and saving about $600,000 during the first year of the initial agreement. But the resources available through the county are far superior, including specialized units, to what Mount Kisco would have been able to afford on its own, he said.

“Evidenced by Columbine, Uvalde, Parkland, other school activity, the training was an important component that we, as a small department, could not match to what the county offers in training, and in a small department often what’s cut first is training,” Cindrich said.

In 2025, county officers responded to thousands of calls within Mount Kisco for medical aided cases, domestic incidents, people in crisis and other quality-of-life issues, Raynor said. Personnel also issued more than 2,000 summonses for violations of vehicle and traffic law and of local ordinances and handled more than 700 criminal and non-criminal investigations. There were 254 arrests last year, including 60 resulting in felony charges, he said.

But being involved in the everyday life of the village has been equally satisfying, Raynor said.

“Members of our department were proud to participate in multiple community celebrations and other community events throughout the years, and in the spirit of the holidays, they collected toys and other gifts to distribute to children at Mount Kisco Head Start, Mount Kisco Elementary, Pinecrest, Kisco Gardens and Northern Westchester Hospital,” Raynor said. 

County Legislator Erika Pierce, D-2, added that the community policing provided by the county is a key element to preserve quality of life.

At the time of its approval by the Village Board, village officials pressed for Department of Public Safety representatives to meet with them on a quarterly basis to discuss police-related matters, something that was often allowed to slide during the previous contract.

Mount Kisco is one of two communities in Westchester, along with the town of Cortlandt, that receives police coverage through the county. County Police also provide school resource officers to several districts.