MONMOUTH — Officials in Winthrop and Monmouth are working on a plan to consolidate the neighboring towns’ police departments.

The proposal to merge the departments is expected to go to Monmouth voters at its annual town meeting in June. In Winthrop, which has a town council form of government, the proposal would require the council’s approval.

Police Chief Paul Ferland already leads both departments. The two departments already work together regularly, with officers responding to help their colleagues across town lines when they need backup or assistance.

At a recent public meeting in Monmouth, Ferland told about a dozen residents that formalizing a consolidation would allow for more efficient operations. It could also provide for better investigative work as Winthrop has detectives who could dig further into crimes. And it could mean better supervision, especially at night when officers might otherwise be on their own without a supervisor for guidance, and provide a larger pool of officers to cover shifts while other officers are in training, out sick, or on vacation.

“Now, Monmouth will go to Winthrop to provide backup on complaints, and Winthrop will go to Monmouth to backup complaints, this happens, pretty much, on a daily basis,” Ferland said. “It just makes sense to be a little more proactive along those lines, because we’d provide a much better service to the community.”

Consolidation helps the resiliency of both agencies and will attact better-trained employees, Ferland said. It provides an incentive for recruiting and retaining officers because there’s more potential for promotions.

Some Monmouth residents initially seemed skeptical about the proposal at Tuesday’s informational meeting. But by the end of the discussion, most said they were open to it. If the proposal will cost more money, however, they said their fellow residents likely won’t vote for it.

Neil Wright said one of the reasons he moved from Winthrop to Monmouth was that he liked that Monmouth, where there’s less crime, has its own police department. He said combining he police forces could cost more, and increase taxes in Monmouth. Monmouth’s recent property tax revaluation has increased the taxes of some residents, so there is likely little appetite, among his fellow Monmouth taxpayers, for a tax increase for any reason, he said.

Wright said that in recent years proposals to eliminate Monmouth’s police department have been made, but did not move forward.

“My concern is Monmouth’s taxes go up every year, and if the (police department) merges with Winthrop, a larger town, which has more crime, I’m worried what’s going to happen if you guys do this and all of a sudden Monmouth can’t afford it anymore?” Wright said. “I don’t want to lose the police department, and I don’t want to see people get taxed out of their houses, either.”

Ferland said while the goal of consolidation is not to save money, it likely could save at least some funds through efficiencies, but is not expected to cost more than the current departments do now.

“Some communities in Maine we’re seeing departments get so small, they can’t attract officers,” Winthrop Town Manager Anthony Wilson said Wednesday. “We’re hoping, with the two departments combined, that will insulate us from that. Having a shared police chief has worked out spectacularly. Part of that is Paul Ferland is an outstanding police chief, so that has worked out really well, and the departments work together all the time. This is sort of just taking that one step further.”

Wilson said Winthrop councilors have not yet taken a vote on the proposal, but have been fully supportive of the effort.

Aaron White, vice chairman of the Winthrop council, told Monmouth residents at Tuesday’s meeting he supports the effort.

“I look at this as something we both as communities could benefit from,” White said. “We’d want to make sure it is to as much benefit to Monmouth as it is to Winthrop.”

Ferland and Wilson said if Monmouth voters authorize entering an agreement to combine departments, the consolidated department could start at the beginning of the next fiscal year on July 1.

Monmouth Town Manager Justin Poirier said the plan is to create a police commission, with representatives from both towns, which would recommend a consolidated budget to each town annually.

Ferland said numerous aspects of the consolidation have not yet been determined, including whether both towns would continue to have their own police stations. He said the towns are working with the union representing police officers in both towns on aspects of the proposal as well.