Three Riverside police officers will be able to keep their jobs for the 2010 year, but funding may not be available to pay their salaries next year.

Riverside Village Board members met  Oct. 10, and after more than a five-hour meeting, decided not to eliminate three police officer positions or reduce staff ranks, according to Village Manager Peter Scalera.

The Fire Department had faced a one-person layoff and the Public Works forester position also was set to be eliminated.

“The board felt that providing those services was important, and they didn’t think it would be in the best interest of the community to eliminate those positions,” Scalera said.

Police Chief Tom Weitzel said he was relieved when he learned the police positions were safe from the chopping block.

“If the cuts were made, we would have been, in my opinion, drastically understaffed,” Weitzel said.

“It would have put great stress on the department.”

Weitzel said that many residents came out to the Oct. 10 meeting to advocate for the Police Department staffing levels to stay the same.

“As chief, I was gratified that citizens would support the position that we couldn’t afford to lose those three officers,” he said.

Next year, however, Weitzel said positions will definitely be reduced due to lack of funding.

“If employees are laid off, they’ll have to seek a job somewhere else, and go through different testing,” Weitzel said. “I hope that there will be a clearer financial picture by 2011, not layoffs every year.”

The village will use money from its reserve fund to pay for the positions, but that money will not be available next year.

“We reduced to projected 2010 deficit to $332,000 from $890,000,” said Village President Michael Gorman.

In the proposed budget, the three police layoffs were included, and the village was facing no deficit.

“Now, the board said ‘we’re going to fund those positions,’ so they are now facing a deficit,” said Kevin Wachtel, Riverside’s finance director.

Gorman said the village has deferred certain capital expenditures.

“In this economy, based on my research and discussion with elected officials throughout the Chicagoland area, something has to be sacrificed to keep village services intact. I’m not willing to sacrifice personnel to fund equipment purchases in the future,” he said.

The challenge going forward is determining how to spend village funds more efficiently, Gorman said.

“My focus is on redirecting our spending to provide core village services, like the police and fire departments and public works,” Gorman said. “We have to give our residents the services they deserve.”