Montgomery County spent $240,000 more than budgeted during the last fiscal year to pay for police officers to attend outside training classes, county data show.
The county’s tuition-assistance program in fiscal 2009 cost $220,000 more than in the previous year — during the same period officials say a police-owned training company may have improperly used those funds to sell guns to officers at steep discounts.
The county sets aside a pot of money each year — currently about $800,000 — for its employees to use for continuing education programs. Once the money is gone, the county does not pay for any more courses. Employees can spend $1,730 a year.
But under a deal with the Fraternal Order of Police union, the county is required to pay for police officers’ courses even if there is no money left in the fund.
In fiscal 2008, the county forked out $21,829 extra to honor that agreement. In fiscal 2009, it spent $242,222 more than budgeted.
The county’s director of human resources, Joe Adler, said the increase “might be attributed” to an increase in interest in the tuition assistance program, which jumped to 950 employees in fiscal 2009 from 755 employees in fiscal 2008.
County officials are still trying to create a full picture of the program, which is being investigated by the county attorney and the inspector general for possible fraud. Chief Administrative Officer Tim Firestine was asked to provide the County Council with details of the program’s costs and use by Thursday, but received a two-week extension to put the numbers together.
The county attorney and the inspector general are reviewing allegations from the county sheriff’s office that one company, Applied Sciences for Public Safety, set up sham courses that used money from the tuition assistance program to offer Glock handguns, normally valued around $500, for $50 to course participants, including 275 police officers.
The company’s lawyer has publicly denied that there was any wrongdoing, but the county continues to freeze payments to the company.
Before being named Applied Sciences, county officials said, the company was called Global Law Enforcement Advisory Group. Two years ago, officials said Global offered its course participants $200 police flashlights as part of the course. State records show that Global was owned by two Montgomery County police officers and was dissolved as a corporation Thursday.
The county has paid both companies a total of nearly $500,000.
