Binghamton & Johnson City No Longer to Share a Police Chief

The City of Binghamton and Village of Johnson City are backing off on one component that was touted during years of talk of dissolving the Village.

Johnson City will soon have its own police chief again and Binghamton's chief will be tasked with overseeing only the City’s Police Department.

The mayors of Binghamton and Johnson City held a joint news conference announcing the shared services agreement would not be renewed at the end of the year.

Officials of both municipalities agreed that having individual chiefs would allow for greater concentration on individual and specific crime issues in each location.

Officials say the decision had nothing to do with the work that had been done by Chief Joseph Zikuski while serving as the joint police chief.

The village is expecting to save some money after hiring a police chief but not adding an assistant police chief.

The City of Binghamton’s costs are expected to go up with the Parlor City solely paying the Chief’s salary but Mayor Richard David says officials are looking into covering that expense without a stress on the city’s bottom line.

The Binghamton budget process is currently underway.