Committee presses to restore park police and parks base funding after county executive cuts

The Montgomery County Planning, Housing and Parks Committee and the Public Safety Committee, meeting jointly on April 23, urged restoration of baseline funding for Park Police and Montgomery Parks after the county executive’s FY26 recommended budget left gaps in compensation and other base services.

The committee’s staff presentation said the county executive’s recommended Park Police budget shows a net increase of about $325,000 (1.5 percent) over FY25. “For the park police today, the county executive is recommending about 21 for FY '26. That's an increase of $325,000 or 1 and a half percent from last year's approved budget,” Council staff member Ms. Farag told the joint committee.

Why it matters: committee members warned the executive’s recommended reductions could reduce essential maintenance and compliance. Staff flagged that cuts to small line items could affect compliance with the Maryland Police Accountability Act and routine safety work such as canine care and alarm inspections.

Key details: staff described several Park Police budget changes, including an overtime increase from last year’s budget to a recommended overtime budget of about $860,000 to cover a growing number of park events, a $38,000 increase in supplies and materials for situational‑awareness upgrades and a $92,000 increase in other services for mandated reform, software licenses, contractual services and $25,000 for camera modernization. The staff report also listed three non‑recommended reductions negotiated with OMB: a taser lease ($2,500), fire‑alarm inspections ($10,000) and badging supplies ($2,000). Staff cautioned a loss of these resources could affect compliance with policing mandates.

Committee actions and discussion: budget manager Kate Bentley explained the $10,000 fire‑alarm reduction was intended to defer some inspections into a subsequent fiscal year and said Parks had identified other one‑time funds to cover inspections now. “We asked for $20,000 but we think we could probably, defer enough and move them into a following fiscal year to continue to do them at a regular interval,” Bentley said.

Several council members said fire‑alarm inspections should not be cut. The committee moved to restore the $10,000 and the chair took the motion “without objection.” The joint committee also recorded consensus language asking the executive to supply an amendment to correct a compensation funding error the executive acknowledged in a memo: the committee noted a marker of $1,072,826 for departmental compensation that staff said should be funded and recommended an additional restoration of baseline items totaling about $3,170,156 that the committee characterized as maintenance of service (utilities, contractual increases, inflationary pressures and other base costs).

Parks and Park Police response: Director Navy Figueroa and Park Police leadership emphasized public‑safety and event demands are increasing. Park Police Chief McSwain said the department expects several new hires this year and “We expect to be fully staffed by the summer, which will also help to reduce the need for overtime.” Parks staff said the department also continues diversity, outreach and community programming efforts and cited staffing and equipment needs tied to those programs.

What was not decided: the committee did not adopt or alter new program enhancements (tier‑2 items) at this meeting; instead members asked staff to prepare a reconciliation list for the council that separates (a) compensation and other maintenance‑of‑service restorations and (b) enhancements that should compete with other county priorities.

Ending: The committee said it will press the county executive for the compensation marker and for restoration of baseline operating items during the council’s reconciliation process and will advocate at the full council for the $10,000 restoration and other base items it identified.