North Stonington — The Board of Finance on Wednesday compromised with members of the Board of Selectmen on how to handle an $81,100 state DUI enforcement grant they hope to receive in the coming month.

The decision came amid an ongoing conversation about whether to ax one of the town's three resident troopers because of the state's recent trooper price hike.   

The 75 shifts the grant provides, First Selectman Nick Mullane has said, could help the town with coverage if it goes down to two troopers.

"It has been the practice, if there's an emergency call, that the trooper changes from (the DUI shift) and swings over to the emergency," said Mullane, in attendance on Wednesday.

The selectmen had asked the finance board to approve an increase of $81,100 — the total amount of the grant — for the state trooper budget line item.

Instead, after a lengthy discussion spearheaded by Board of Finance member Emil Pavlovics, the finance board decided the line item should increase by only $60,725 — the state's portion of the 75 percent reimbursable grant.

The town's $20,275 portion, members said, should come out of the $434,768 voters approved for the trooper line item in June.

The motion passed 4-0 on the six-person board, with member Mustapha Ratib absent and with no one having been tapped as a replacement for former board Chairman Dan Spring, who stepped down in August. Former Vice Chairman Tim Main II currently serves as the head of the board.

"What I'm asking for is simply buying time till we get a more comprehensive plan," Pavlovics said, referring to the selectmen's impending decision regarding the town's resident state troopers. "I can certainly understand if you come back and say, 'We need that ($20,275).' But at this time, I don't think we need to add it to the budget until we know exactly what we're doing."

In early June, just days after North Stonington residents approved the current year's budget, town officials learned that the state likely was going to change the way it compensated towns for troopers.

Instead of 70 percent of the troopers' salaries, municipalities now have to bear 85 percent of the salaries for their first two troopers and 100 percent of any beyond that.

For North Stonington, that means keeping all three troopers — as well as the overtime required to staff school sporting events, security and the D.A.R.E program, events such as the Memorial Day Parade and town investigations — would result in a $168,180 deficit.

Even without any frills, keeping the three troopers throughout the fiscal year would set the town back $66,684.

As such, town officials have spent the past several weeks working out different scenarios.

If the selectmen choose to have 2.25 troopers — that is, to drop one by Sept. 30 — and to cut troopers from programs such as Safety Camp and events such as school basketball games, they could come away with $42,266, much of which likely would be used on troopers' town investigations.

Assuming the same cuts, if the selectmen don't drop the third trooper until Dec. 31, they'd run a deficit of $3,541 — money spent on investigations not included.

"Under the current budget, we have sufficient funds to staff the third trooper until the end of the calendar year, as long as we don't have any additional overtime," said Selectman Mark Donahue, who was in the audience. "But we should make a decision in the next week or two as to what the plan is."

The $60,725 grant appropriation likely will be up for approval at a Sept. 28 special town meeting.

l.boyle@theday.com

Twitter: @LindsayABoyle