Montgomery County joint committee agrees to restore CAD and camera maintenance funding to Park Police FY27 budget

The Montgomery County joint committee of the Planning, Housing and Public Safety committees agreed Thursday to restore two items to the reconciliation list for the Maryland‑National Capital Park and Planning Commission Park Police FY27 budget: $80,000 for current Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system upgrades and $1,000 for body‑worn camera maintenance.

Staff member Ms. Farag, who led the packet presentation, told the committee the session focused on a small subset of the FY27 recommended operating budget for the Park Police and explained that many items are listed as tier 1 or tier 2 non‑recommended reductions that would need to be placed on the reconciliation list to be restored. "They host more than 14,000,000 visitors each year," Ms. Farag said as context for Park Police operations and deployment.

The restoration requests centered on operational necessities. Ms. Farag said the CAD funding request is split: an $80,000 tier‑1 amount for upgrades to the current dispatch system and a $132,000 amount originally intended to purchase a different CAD system that is no longer needed. Council staff recommended restoring the $80,000 for the current‑system upgrades. She also described a $1,000 increase for body‑worn camera maintenance, noting both body‑worn and in‑car cameras are out of warranty and maintenance costs have risen.

Committee members asked how budgeted overtime relates to hiring. Chief Lakisha Robinson said the Park Police remain attractive to applicants but currently show vacancies because of lapsed positions; she said officers in background processing will fill slots when hires are approved. "We don't have any issues hiring," Chief Robinson said, adding that some positions are on hold and the department uses current officers’ visibility as a recruitment tool.

Kate Bentley, budget manager for Montgomery Parks, said vacancies are driving overtime: the department projects $894,000 in overtime for FY27 compared with $648,000 spent through March 31 in FY26 and reported about five vacant officer positions at the time of the session. Those vacancies, plus a department‑wide roughly 10% lapse, were described as the primary drivers of overtime expenditures.

Other budget change items discussed included a modest $1,000 projected price increase in another category that staff did not recommend placing on the reconciliation list, a $64,000 laptop replacement request (versus last year’s $35,000), and a $10,000 contractually obligated increase for proficiency testing services used for officer promotions.

After discussion, the committee members indicated agreement to restore the CAD $80,000 and the camera maintenance $1,000 on the reconciliation list; the session record shows verbal consensus rather than a formal roll‑call vote. The Chair closed the meeting and the committee adjourned.

Next steps: placement on the reconciliation list means committee members or Council staff must include these restorations in reconciliation actions later in the budget process for final consideration by the Council.