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RIDGELY – Two weeks after a numbers reality check, the three Ridgely Commissioners on April 7 postponed a final decision about law enforcement coverage until their May 5 meeting.
Leading the discussion was Commissioner Brad Sears, who, during a March 19 budget workshop, presented the projected costs of reestablishing a town police department versus continuing an agreement with the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office for fiscal year 2026.
Sears called the number-crunching exercise “a big freaking job.”
“Pardon my language,” he said. “I've been drinking out of a fire hose for the last nine months, and that's with a finance and accounting background, and a project management background.”
The option of reinstituting the Ridgely Police Department was “patently obvious to everyone: we just don't have the tax base to support that at this point,” Sears said.
The fiscal year 2026 law enforcement budget was the focus of the March 19 workshop. According to Sears’ calculations, a new town police department would cost about $852,704.
The current FY 2026 budget for law enforcement services provided by three deputies with the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office is $493,415.
The disparity between the two figures, as well as future budget pressures, presented only two other options, Sears said. “One would be to simply cancel the existing MOU and rely on the Sheriff's Department and the State Police normal patrol patterns for police protection. The second would be to continue with the MOU,” he said.
The memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office, provided the town with complete law enforcement coverage by the Office for fiscal year 2025, with the option to renew service annually, according to a Sept. 9, 2024, statement from the Commissioners.
Under the amended agreement two uniformed deputies and one uniformed sergeant were to be supplied on a full-time basis. Currently serving the town are one sergeant, one corporal and one deputy first class.
Sears offered a motion, adopted unanimously, to use the Sheriff’s Office FY 2026 budget proposal to comply with the town charter that requires a draft budget be presented at the Commissioners’ May meeting, while seeking clarity about the terms and conditions of the MOU – something several residents made clear they wanted at the March 19 workshop.
“There has been some confusion and, frankly, concern about whether we’re actually getting the services promised in the MOU,” Sears said. “If we’re going to keep with the existing arrangement, the MOU would need to be redefined, well-defined, clarified. Specifically, we would need to make sure all the terms and conditions are clearly documented.”
“We need to be fair and we need to be equitable, and, by golly, we need to be transparent,” he said.
