FAITH — The Faith Board of Aldermen voted to continue negotiations with the town of Granite Quarry on continuing the Granite Quarry Faith Joint Police agreement during a special meeting on Thursday.

The meeting comes after the aldermen voted to terminate the agreement between the two municipalities, which allowed for the Granite Quarry police to cover Faith for an annual fee. Faith Mayor Randall Barger delivered a letter to Granite Quarry officials, which stated:

“Please be advised that the town of Faith Board of Aldermen has voted to discontinue police services with the town of Granite Quarry effective July 1, 2025.

“The town of Faith appreciates the police service provided over the years and has enjoyed working with Granite Quarry as well.”

The members of the Granite Quarry Town Council previously agreed to continue negotiations during a similar special meeting, but they added the request that the Faith aldermen retract the motion approving the letter.

The Faith aldermen chose not to rescind the motion, with several saying they did not see a reason to rescind it unless the towns could come to an agreement to continue the partnership.

Barger said previously that the decision to terminate ultimately came down to a requested increase in the amount Faith pays Granite Quarry for the police services. Granite Quarry has asked Faith to increase its contribution to $225,000, up approximately $50,000 from the current amount.

“I think we always need to be open to discussions (with Granite Quarry), I don’t care if it’s for public works or the fire department or police, and I would hope they feel the same way about us. As much as they have their obligation to provide the best police service for their town, we have to look at what’s best for us as well,” said Mayor Pro Tem Dale Peeler.

Alderman Jayne Lingle noted that Granite Quarry is growing quickly, which meant that the Granite Quarry Police Department had more ground to cover. While the revenue from Granite Quarry’s recent spate of annexations has yet to come, it is expected to help pay for rising public safety costs, something Lingle said Faith could not count on.

“The more Granite Quarry grows, the more stretched (Police Chief Todd Taylor) gets and we don’t get the piece of the pie we paid for. I personally feel like we need to be fiscally sound for our citizens in this town, and $49,000 is a lot of money for this town. We do not have the option to grow like they do,” said Lingle.

Peeler and Alderman Gary Gardner both stated that Granite Quarry and Faith officials should bring concrete terms on what the money is paying for and what both towns expect out of future agreements.

Members of the board were sure to state that the disagreement over funding did not mean that they were unappreciative of the job that Taylor and the members of the police department were doing.

The towns have approximately a month to come to an agreement, as the state fiscal year starts on July 1, at which time budgets would need to be set.