By Sara StrongThe Luverne City Council and staff are united in their theory that the city is paying too much for its law enforcement contract with Rock County.In fact, if the city had it’s own department, City Administrator Greg LaFond said Luverne would save about $285,000. He said the department would have five full-time officers. The county said that doesn’t make sense, considering there were seven full-time equivalents working for the city’s own department in 1997. Council members and LaFond say a separate department is a last resort.LaFond said, "People have asked if it’s our intent to create a separate department and I will say publicly, no. It’s not my intent and I don’t believe it’s the intent of the Council."The city pays $447,000 for its half of the law enforcement budget. City taxpayers also pay through their county taxes, which the city says should be considered.The county has said that city taxpayers will pay twice, whether the city has its own department or not. At a City Council meeting Tuesday, LaFond presented the Council with two months of research involving 183 municipalities who contract for law enforcement."We spoke personally to every sheriff in the state," LaFond said.The volumes of material addressed at the meeting are bound in an inch-thick book, and there are boxes of reference material in City Hall. But essentially, LaFond said Luverne is paying the second highest per capita tax for law enforcement, $96.90, of all cities that contract for law enforcement.Only two cities pay for law enforcement based on a percentage of the budget; Luverne pays half and Pipestone pays 43 percent. All others pay an hourly rate.Luverne has cancelled its dispatching joint powers agreement because 911 is a county obligation the city no longer wants to contribute to.Before that was terminated, though, the city would have paid $174,000 in 2005. The city would then have the highest per capita tax for dispatch services of the 52 cities that make payments for it.Another proposal for law enforcement The city will submit another proposal to Rock County in the hopes of reinstating the joint law contract. The proposal would have Luverne taxpayers contribute $586,620 to law enforcement, factoring in city and county taxes paid by Luverne residents. The new proposal includes the following:—City purchase 168 hours of patrol time per week (24 hours a day, seven days a week) for an annual payment of $340,617,—City would fund half of the investigator position, $46,308,—City would fund half the cost of crossing guards, $13,000,—City would contribute $5,000 to DARE program,—City’s cost would be offset by state aid, based on how many officers the contract requires,—City fines and forfeitures remitted to the county should be treated as an offset against city costs,—Jail per diems and medical expenses would not be funded through the city payments.The city has said the inmate costs shouldn’t be charged to contract law participants. LaFond said Luverne pays the highest per capita tax for jail expenses, $14.08.County Commissioner Jane Wildung commented after the meeting. "I can’t keep track if this is the fifteenth or sixteenth proposal. … I don’t see how the city thinks they can get the service for less than what it paid back in 1997."