For the first time in years, Carroll?s Sheriff?s Office isn?t planning to expand.
County commissioners remain unsure which direction to take policing in the county after a bitter debate pushed state lawmakers to pass a bill requiring a referendum if commissioners go forward with a plan to create a county police department with an appointed chief.
The commissioners also voted to reduce the Sheriff?s Office and abolish the Resident Trooper Program, in which the county contracts state troopers to patrol it. But Commissioner Michael Zimmer floated the idea Monday of adding the three positions the Sheriff?s Office would lose to the trooper program.
“We?re back at square one,” Zimmer said at a budget meeting Monday. “I was just brainstorming.”
The county?s budget office recommended the Sheriff?s Office receive money to hire two more court security officers and an administrative assistant but no additional sworn deputies. The sheriff?s budget would increase 8 percent over this year?s budget, bringing it to about $5.1 million for more than 70 sworn deputies and nearly 30 civilian and court employees.
“We?re disappointed that we have lost the additional positions that we have been given each year,” said Col. Bob Keefer, an office spokesman. “But we are ever grateful that the net result in next year?s budget is not with a reduction in force.”
Under the budget, the Resident Trooper Program would get a 5 percent increase, bringing its budget for 45 troopers and one civilian secretary to about $5.6 million.
“We know we can?t fund everything,” said Ted Zaleski, the county?s budget director. He said he recommends funding for “what seems to be the most pressing, the strongest arguments.”
