The city of College Park’s final approved budget includes doubled police spending and higher taxes, after dozens of residents spoke out against a last-minute plan to cut those items.
The city council passed the $12 million budget last Tuesday after an unusually close 5-3 vote. District 2 Councilman Jack Perry and District 4 Councilwomen Mary Cook and Karen Hampton opposed the bill’s passage. The assembled crowd burst into applause as the budget passed.
Earlier, an amendment to cut the extra $500,000 in police spending and $60 a person in increased taxes failed after a 5-3 vote failed along the same lines.
Hampton first proposed cutting the police expansion a little more than a week before the council’s deadline for approving a budget.
More than 30 people, including several students and student leaders, lined up to speak at the council meeting. The overwhelming majority of them supported the police spending.
“I think one thing that I’ve seen throughout my going around the city is that there’s one thing that everyone agrees on: that safety is a priority, that police is a priority,” former Student Government Association President Andrew Friedson said at the council meeting. “It’s a basic quality of life: safety.”
The extra half-million dollars will allow the city to hire three additional Prince George’s County Police officers who will patrol only College Park rather than an entire police district, which includes many communities. The city already contracts with several county officers, which residents say has been successful.
Former District 1 Councilman John Krouse said cutting the program would eliminate a successful program in order to save $50 to $70.
“That’s absurd,” he said. “Anyone who proposes this ought to have their head examined.”
Cook said several times during the meeting that she thought some people might have been confused about what she and Hampton supported; they did not want to eliminate the city’s contract police program; they just did not want to expand it this year.
“The current program [as proposed in the budget] would give you 24-hour service, and we’re not sure that’s absolutely necessary,” she said.
But many residents disagreed.
“The problem in North College Park does not go away in two eight-hour shifts. It’s a 24-hour problem,” said resident Joan Henry. She called herself “fortunate” because she had only had her car broken into once this year. “North College Park is not safe.”
Hampton and Cook said they were responding to constituent pressure from their district to avoid the tax increase during what Hampton called “challenging times.” Perry has long opposed the police expansion, saying he already pays for police in his county taxes and doubts how useful the added officers actually are.
“That’ll be three, count ’em, three, one, two, three, officers assigned to work in College Park. You can’t do much with three officers over seven days,” Perry said. “I don’t think I should have to pay them again to do what they should be doing.”
But student Max Evan said the expansion of police services was necessary, as he has been “afraid to walk outside at night” since he was a victim of a robbery in April.
“The status quo is unacceptable. We need more protection. We need a stronger police presence,” he said. “Over the four years I’ve lived in College Park, I’ve considered this my home. No one should have to be afraid in their home. We need to protect our home.”
Two residents joined the three dissenting council members at the meeting in opposition of the police expansion. One of them, Dave Dorsch, the chairman of the College Park Landlords’ Committee, said “throwing money” at the crime problem is the wrong way to solve it.
“I don’t believe there’s a direct correlation between the amount of coverage and the safety we get,” he said, explaining that the city already has enough police patrolling the area.
The council first discussed the budget in April, and there was little disagreement during the seven hours the council members spent reviewing it. But after constituent complaints about the higher taxes, both District 4 council members dropped their support last month with less than two weeks remaining before the council’s June 1 deadline for adopting a budget.
The lateness of the proposal surprised long-time council members and city residents. The council generally spends more time at the initial budget “work session” and then later passes the budget unanimously at crunch time. This surprise left many of those who had accepted the police expansion as a done deal upset with the sudden possibility of the program disappearing.
Mayor Stephen Brayman, for one, described the idea of major last-minute changes as “amazing” and “irresponsible.”
City Manager Joe Nagro is still negotiating with Prince George’s County over the hiring of the contract officers but said he expects them to start work over the summer.
Other budget highlights included a first-ever $1,500 stipend for the Student Government Association-appointed student liaison to the city council; money for the planned downtown parking garage; and an item that would help create more street parking for College Park Towers residents along Guilford Road.
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